Jaune Arc: Power Redefined
by TheDemonKingNaruto
Summary: You know my dream was to be a Hero, ya know? To be the strongest so I could protect everyone I love. It is for that reason I've trained so hard. However, there was a consequence for my hubris, I have all this strength, but now everything feels like glass to me. I can't even hold my best friend in my arms without killing her. Strong Jaune/Harem
1. Chapter 1

**An idea that came to me while at work. Basically One Punch Man and DBZ elements in Jaune Arc, but not the same case. I'm making it much more serious.**

 **Also this is a christmas present to all of you so I hope you like it.**

 **Enjoy!**

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" _I always wanted to be strong, ya know?. So strong that I wouldn't have be the guy who had to hide while others fought my battles. I wanted to be so strong that I could be the guy who my friends and teammates could lean on for support. I wanted to be so strong that I could go back to my family and prove to them that I could be a hero. But I didn't want this. I didn't want to get so strong that everything felt like glass to me." **~Jaune Arc**_

 **Jaune Arc: Power Redefined**

 _Volume 1: The Breaking of Limits_

 _Chapter 1: Failure and Resolve_

"I apologize Mr. Arc, but with your test scores we cannot let you into Signal Academy. With the skill you have presented to us it is clear you've had very little training and what little you've got was all your own. We cannot in good conscience let you in with just this, it would be more dangerous for you than it would be beneficial. Truly, we are sorry."

That was a much nicer way to say, _you failed._

 _You failed._

 _You. Are. A. Failure._

 _'Least they tried to be nice about it.'_ thought one lone young man of 13 years of age whom sat upon a none specific little bench in the moderately built city of Patch. He wore very simple clothing consisting of black sneakers and blue jeans that had a white patch on the left side. He wore a black hoodie which hid the red and blue striped shirt underneath. His clothing seemed average really, and the young man himself would appear to be average as well if not for his more physical features that made him stand out among others.

His scraggly blonde hair was as bright as the sun and his eyes seemed to have been cut from sapphires due to the intensity in those orbs. His complexion was a healthy pale, but anyone with an inkling of the human physique could tell the young man had a strong upper body physique, more than other people his age. The young man stood out in the city of Patch as he couldn't have been a local with such foreign features, but none could tell his place of origin.

The young man was seated on a bench in a park that was situated across the street to the local huntsmen school, Signal Academy. However, his form was slouched, his shoulders were slumped in resignation and head down in despair over the situation he was in. The elements themselves seemed to respond to his own emotional state as a torrential storm ravaged the skies above all of Patch and the young man just sat in the middle of it. Not caring if he got sick or not because as of right now nothing really mattered to him. His eyes, what were usually bright and hopeful, were dull of any life in them. His hair was matted down from the downpour of rain that only seemed to cry for him as his last chance to even prove his worth, or what little he had if his father had anything to say about it, was gone.

 _'Oh yeah that's right, dad. I was supposed to let him and mom know about the results. Well this won't end well that's for sure.'_ The young teen grimaced at the thought of his father. This young man was Jaune Arc, a young man who was raised among a family of Heroes and Legends since the Great War. It was almost guaranteed that anyone born of the Arc family was destined for greatness on the battlefield. The blood of War Heroes ran through their veins and with it the innate natural talent of a warrior pumped through every part of their body. It was a calling some in his family said. A way of right that all Arcs will go through. Hell even ancient scriptures of old spoke that all Arcs were born to be warriors, masters of war, and Heroes among Heroes.

….Except for him.

 _'This is gonna be nasty. Mom always tried to stick up for me, but dad's always been such stuck up asshole about tradition and when he hears about this...'_ Jaune grimaced again as he pulled out his scroll, a gift to him by his mother for his 13th birthday. Idly he scrolled through the contacts he had on his phone, some people he knew such as his sisters, bless them when they tried to help him, his mom, dad unfortunately, and another few contacts that were put in there by his mother in case he was ever in an emergency.

 _'Wonder who this Qrow is?'_ he wonder as he scrolled past the contact name for "Qrow" and stopped once he got to his home number. At this he took a sigh and readied himself.

If the Arc family was world renowned for it's gifted members for their martial prowess. Then Jaune was considered to be the exception. The firstborn son of 8 children, raised around 6 older sisters and 1 younger sister, Jaune was left in their shadow and the expectations of his father of being a huntsman. All of Remnants higher echelon of military power looked to the Arc family as a means of future huntsmen and huntresses elites that would safeguard the world from the Grimm. It was to be expected for all those born of Arc blood to be born with such talent and with equal expectations on them.

However, this was not the same for Jaune. For many both in and outside his rather large family he was considered the black sheep of the family.

The reason?

Jaune was born with seemingly no natural talent as a huntsman.

Instead of being born with the the natural skill and talent expected of an Arc, Jaune was instead born with other things. He was born with huge levels of stamina, levels that led some to believe he'd be wonderful athlete if he had the mindset. A longevity of healing and regeneration of human cells that it blew the usual arc regeneration out of the park; normally the only healing humans or faunus could have was that of their aura being utilized, but the Arcs were born with an innate ability to heal from wounds without aura being utilized. He was born with a condition that his fraternal twin sister Rose called a "small case of Hero Complex", meaning he always wanted to help people regardless of whether or not it benefited him. He always wanted to see the good in people, and treated anyone and everyone equally as the next.

However, in spite of all this, Jaune was born with one thing that halted his aspiration of being a huntsman, and it is what made Jaune such a strange and disappointment of the Arc family.

He was born with an unnatural amount of aura. So immense that it couldn't even be measured by even the most high-tech of Atlas researchers technology. And it was because of that level of aura that it inhibited Jaune's progress as a huntsmen indefinitely. Because the side-effect of having so much aura had left him Jaune crippled in a sense for any aspiring huntsmen.

He couldn't unlock his aura.

His family had tried so many times to do it, but every time ended... _violently._

The last person that tried to unlock his aura had been professional on aura, a professor at the prestigious Beacon Academy, an old friend of his fathers.

That same person was now 12 feet under after trying to unlock his aura. It was dense and so heavy that the initial backlash just destroyed the one who tried to do it. It turned his brain to mush and crushed his whole skeletal system to nothing, but dust.

That had been the last time his family every tried to unlock his aura.

And that was when he was 7 years old and since then his aura seemingly kept growing and growing making the task of unlocking it all the more impossible. It was because of that Jaune's progress as a Huntsman-in-training was nipped in the bud before it even began.

Because of that Jaune was seen as a failure, and the harsh expectations of his father only pushed the young man down further. The only few people in his family that tried to help him and those that loved him regardless of his problem was his sisters, mothers, and his grandfather. His father on the other hand was a stickler for tradition and anything, even if it was his own son, wasn't up to par with Arc tradition was a waste.

Which to Jaune's current predicament. He had left his home to become a Huntsman by trying to apply to Signal in Patch, and he left on terms to let his parents know about the results of his entry exams.

Which he had failed spectacularly.

 _'If I wasn't pitted against that blonde girl I might have passed, what was her name? Sang? Zang? Whatever her name was, she didn't pull any punches with her attacks that's for sure.'_ the blonde arc thought to himself as he readied the eventual phone call to his family.

Soon it rang and Jaune sat up a bit straighter, squaring his shoulders and head raised for discussion at hand.

Then someone spoke.

"Hello, boy."

Crap.

It was _dad._

Jaune swallowed the nervous lump in his throat before responding in kind. "Hey dad, hows the...uh...family?" attempting to break the ice between the two, admittedly a poor way to do so since it was his _father_ he was speaking to.

However Jaune's father was having none of it. "They're fine. Now, your mother and I have been wondering about the results of your test at Signal. So tell me Jaune, did you pass? Can we expect you to be in Signal?" yup that was his dad alright. Cold and to the point with little regard of emotions to others he deemed unimportant.

Now Jaune could have said anything at this point. He could have tried to play it off or even lied about the results. He could have said he did such a good job his recommendations were sent to the Headmaster of Beacon itself for future prospects of being a student. He could have said anything at that point, but he knew his father a bit too well. He wouldn't believe anything, but the cold hard truth, and in this case it was one Jaune was compelled to give simply on principle alone.

"I failed."

There was a moment of silence after that, a long cold silence that to Jaune seemed to last for eternity. The nervousness in his body only grew as the rain from the storm pelted against his skin.

Then his fathers voice spoke out in a slow, quiet, yet such a cold tone it rooted him in place. For the words his father spoke destroyed all forms of false reality Jaune had for his father actually caring about him.

"I expected nothing less from you, Jaune. Ever since you were born, you have been nothing, but a disgrace to the Arc family. You were born with so much power, so _so much untapped_ _potential_ , yet you are cursed to never truly realize it. I thought you would finally do something worthwhile, but I can see that this whole thing was a waste of time." his fathers words were like a cracking whip to his back, each lash more vicious than the last.

It hurt, _oh god did it hurt_ to hear such words spoken to him, and by his own father no less. However, in some way he expected it because that's just how his father was.

"...D-dad...I..I tried." he tried to form a response, but it was so weak that it couldn't have even been one to take note of.

"And it wasn't even nearly good enough now was it?" his words only made Jaune look down. "You can't even look in me in the eye anymore can you? I see, well no matter, with the way things are, and all the failures you've accumulated I've decided what to do with you." he said causing Jaune to freeze up at those words. From the tone in his fathers voice then whatever he was about to say was too serious to ignore. There wasn't a flicker of emotion in his father at this point. Only a distant coldness that was detached of all family love the man may or may not of had for his youngest child.

"Jaune Arc, as of this moment, I hereby wash my hands of you. You are no longer apart of this family, your failures have been a blemish on us for too long. Your mere existence has been a mistake to me and to our Ancestors, and for that reason alone is enough to warrant severe punishment. But no, I'm done with you Jaune. As Head of the Arc family, I hereby disown you of all inheritable rights you were intended and stripped of your right to be viewed as a Arc by familiar recognition. I expect the Crocea Mors to sent back to us within the week."

 _Blip_

And with that the call ended, no goodbye or farewell, the scroll held by Jaunes number fingers simply fell through his hands and hit the ground in a soft plop. Jaune's expression was frozen in a state of shock as the words his father told him rang loud and clear through his mind. Those harsh decisive words echoing in his mind similar to that of the boom of thunder overhead.

Then it began, that expression of shock cracked, his blue eyes watered as the emotions he'd kept bottled up began to give way. All of hope he had was dashed and scattered to the four winds and with it the last fleeting remnants of Jaune's self-control.

"Guh..." a tear fell from his eye before another and another until soon tears freely began to fall freely down his face. Burying his face into his hands, the young man could no longer withstand the tide of his emotions. Alone, wet and cold in the middle of the storm in Patch was all that Jaune had in this solitude he'd gained after chasing what was now an unattainable dream.

He sat there for what felt like hours, for so long he sat there until he could cry no more and even then he simply couldn't move. He had lost all feeling he had in body, and a good breeze only seemed like a wave of needles impacting his body at this point.

 _'What...what do I do now?'_

He thought about that in his solitude. He was only 13, but by being raised mostly by his grandfather and mother he was much more self-reliant than his siblings. By coming to Patch and trying out for the entry exams into Signal had all come from his own hard earned money. He had rented out a small apartment for himself on the outskirts of the city when he got here, but now it seemed he would need to apply for a job to gain some income for himself so he could keep himself afloat.

Fighting through his emotions, Jaune quickly began to try and come to terms with what just happened and now tried to figure out what he could do now. He had no home to go back to, and he only had a couple lien left over for this months rent. That could be easily remedied by picking up small jobs around Patch to keep himself afloat due to how dirt cheap the rent was. And if all else failed he could fall back on his grandfathers lessons in surving out in the wild for however long he needed.

The thought of his grandfather caused Jaune to stop as a fleeting memory flashed to the forefront of his mind.

 _'Hey! Hey hey hey grandpa! You know what I wanna be when I grow up? I wanna be a hero just like in the stories!'_

 _'Hoh? And what kind of Hero do you want to be my boy? Perhaps like Achilles? Hercules? Or maybe the Hero who saves the damsel in distress?~'_

 _'Well those too I guess, but I want to be the Hero that can protect everyone! I want to be able to protect my sisters, mom, and you!'_

 _'Ah...so you want to be that kind of Hero, that is an admirable dream my boy. However, let me tell you this, even if you wanted to become that strong you still need one thing that determines your success for that aspiration.'_

 _'Huh? And what's that?'_

 _'Hohohoho that my dear boy is called... **Resolve**. An unbreakable resolve to get stronger, so strong that no one can ever threaten those you love. If you have that then I have no doubt nothing will hold you back.'_

The memories quickly washed away, but the effects still lingered in Jaunes expression, a little bit of light returning to his dull blue eyes.

"I should probably figure this all out later, best get out of this storm before I do catch a cold." Jaune muttered to himself before he kicked his feet to the ground, sending a shock through his legs to wake them up. Satisfied with the feeling returning back to his limbs Jaune slowly stood back up and without another word he flipped his hood over his head and walked away. Leaving behind his scroll with little to regard for anything attached to his family.

Even though it was a gift from one of the very few that loved him in spite of his faults.

And in the distance a single black crow with beady red eyes stared at the fleeting Arc before its head twitched to the side, as if contemplating something until the black bird finally jumped and took flight.

And with the scroll that was now in it's talons...

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Jaune Arc was a peculiar young man, even among those of his family. He held within him a certain stigma that was born from his time bonding with his grandfather. Ina world as cruel as Remnant he tries to see the good in people and always helps those that need help regardless of the situation. Be it human or faunus he always wanted to help, he could remember a time when he jumped into a brawl to protect a faunus girl from being hurt by other racial discriminatory humans. That had been the day even his father congratulated on him for doing the right thing.

 _'To be a Hero has always been my dream.'_

Jaune Arc sat on his mattress in his run down apartment building. It was the next morning after the events of yesterday, and after waking up the blonde only got up to get a cup of coffee before sitting back down so he could think. Now that he had gotten a much need 8 hour sleep he was given enough time to think things through and view them from a different perspective.

 _'If I was strong, I could protect them. If I was strong I could hold my sisters, mom, gramps, and friends close and destroy whatever threatens them.'_

Dressed only in a blue tank top and red shorts, Jaune thought about everything. His lack of skill as a Huntsmen, his inability to unlock his aura due to his condition and lack of natural born talent of being a warrior like the rest of the Arc family. There was a lot of things he wasn't good at, and very rare few he was good with. He could cook with the best of them, dance the socks off his older sister Olivia, he could sing and play the guitar with a talent that his sister Rose was enamored with.

However the one thing he was good above all else, was good old fashioned training. Not with weapons, dust or aura, but with your body. Trained by his grandfather in the old ways of battle he grew to have a deeper understanding of the human body and through that he gained an appreciation for physical training and exercise. So much so that some in his family said he had an unhealthy obsession over it, but from what his mother said his sisters weren't complaining when they saw him training.

 _Weird_ , but whatever.

If there was one thing he was good at, it was that and his body showed it. While unable to use aura, Jaune had a much stronger body than most people, regardless of age. He was just born with an incredibly durable and adaptable physique. Enough so that he could train himself for much longer than any other Arc in the family. Even the strongest warrior in their family, and his oldest sister Bianca was unable to keep up with him.

That's what he was truly good at, and it was for that sole reason Jaune hadn't given up entirely.

 _'Remember this Jaune, before we had aura, before we had dust complex weaponry, we Arcs relied solely on bodies as weapons. We trained ourselves to be the best of warriors. We trained till we bled and then some just to become as strong as we are. So remember, if all else fails...'_

"Then physical training will suffice..." the blonde stated.

He sat there for a minute before he took in a breath of air before quickly downing all the coffee in one go. Placing the mug on the counter he breathed back out and opened his eyes.

And his blue eyes seemed to reignite with a vigor never seen before in the young man. Pain and sorrow was simply crushed while leaving only a new form of resolve molded, shaped and tempered by the reality of his situation. Looking down at his hands he clenched them into fists, knuckles cracking and popping with his newly forged determination.

"This won't stop me. He may have taken everything from me, but I still got this body of mine. I _will_ become a hero, even I won't be a legitimized Huntsman, I will become the strongest warrior Remnant will ever see. I swear... _ **I will be the strongest!**_ " he said to himself in the solace of his rundown apartment building.

...Than it until he heard a harsh knocking from the floor.

" _Oi keep it down up there will ya?!"_

 _'Oops.'_

Flinching at the sudden bark from below, Jaune chuckled nervously for a few moments before he looked to the side as he thought about what he needed to do.

"Okay, first I need to get a part-time job to keep up a little bit of income. Perhaps while I'm out I'll get what groceries I need for this training. Plenty of protein from fish and chicken would be good, and I can catch my own fish from the nearby river. I'll also need to get some fruits and vegetables as well." the more he thought about it the more Jaune began to feel a little disillusioned by the reality he'd made for himself.

He was gonna need a lot of money.

"Well I guess its water, fish, and bananas for the next few weeks." he said with a sigh.

That settled Jaune did the only thing that made sense after that.

Stretching his body he popped out the kinks in his legs, shoulders, back and neck. Then he stood up straight, then he fell forward to the floor before catching himself at the last minute. Arms pushing up, the blonde quickly began to do push-ups, and the beginning of his training regime.

Perhaps it was childish naivety, or perhaps it was the result of standing on the brink of desperation, but Jaune was committed to this. If he wanted to be strong he had to do it his own, and the only way he knew was by this method. He'd been stripped of everything he ever had which wasn't much considering what he was to the family. He had nothing, but the clothes on his back and the skills he'd acquired by growing up with grandpa.

"No pain no gain, right grandpa?" Jaune muttered to himself as he continued his push-ups.

Before he left for Patch to apply for Signal his training regime had been fairly simple. 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a 10 km run. He did this every 5 of 7 days. However, if he wanted to get stronger he had to do more than that. He had to increase the intensity of his training, up the amount he did and add in his own methods of training and exercise. However, above all that he couldn't stop, no more breaks and more breathers.

Starting tomorrow he would be waking up 4 in the morning and going back to bed at 9 in the evening. He was gonna do this every single day until he felt he was strong enough to accomplish his dream. No matter how much it would hurt him, no matter how much it would tear his body apart, he _had_ to do this.

Because as of now he was a nobody, one whose existence was stripped by his own father and now to give himself a reason to keep going he had to get strong. There was no maybe in this, he had to do it.

There was no turning back.

 _'I will get strong...I will be the strongest, I swear it on my life!'_

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 **That's the end of his prelude. Just a little something to put my mind at ease and give you guys a little something for christmas. Not much, another story yeah, but I just loved doing this.**

 **God I love Jaunes character, so much potential to be used.**

 **Anyway, this will eventually be a Harem story down the line, but as of now that's far and I mean very far into the future. What's important now is Jaunes development and that I will be focusing on.**

 **That said, have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!**

 **Ja'ne!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay so this story got a much more...vocal support than I initially expected, but I'm cool with that. It's just some were afraid that I was gonna be following a rather niche trope of Jaune forgiving everyone, he being an oblivious moron about the opposite sex, the bashing of his father and the most surprising of all Jaune actually hating Yang?!**

 **Really? I mean REALLY?**

 **It's only been one chapter, give it time things need to progress before you start deciding whats what.**

 **Also remember when I said there would be One Punch Man and DBZ elements coming into this fic? Well there's that and a whole lot more coming into this chapter so prepare yourselves. My imagination just went wild with this so take that for what you will when going into this.**

 **That said, enjoy the chapter!**

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" _There is a fine line between idiocy and suicidal, kid. You walk a very thin line the way you're going, and that's probably why you are the way you are now. You've walked between the two all out of desperation and resolve. You've broken that body of yours again and again and again, and now...you yourself are broken." **~Qrow Branwen**_

 **Jaune Arc: Power Redefined**

 _Volume 1: The Breaking of Limits_

 _Chapter 2: Idiocy loves Pain_

 _'This is so not a good idea.'_

Jaune stood there, 3 in the morning, his blue eyes staring straight at the drink he'd conjured through a risky venture of desperation and a little bit of idiocy. He stood there decked in his training clothing as he got ready for another day of his training. His shoes, jogging pants and his regular black hoodie. It had been 2 months since he started his training and already he could feel the pain his body was going through, Since he took to training every single day from 4 in the morning to 9 in the the evening while eating each 3 course meal a day, doing all this without a break was eventually starting to wear even him down, but he persevered just because he was determined.

And the results were showing, his body was equally starting to fill out as he grew. His lower body gaining equal measure of exercise as his upper body. The first week he started with his normal training regime he did at home with his family. The 100 push-ups, sit-ups, squats and 10 KM run had been simply a warm-up for his body. After that he went on to adding more onto how much he did with what he could do. Making a makeshit curling iron from an abandoned steel pipe and junkyard tires full of air and rims, he used this to do his additional 100 pull-ups, bicep curls, tricep curls, and also started alternating his push-ups with one hand. He increased his running by increasing the distance he ran by an additional 5 KM while taking alternate trips to run through the river causing the water to weigh him down.

It was tiring, it hurt like all hell. His legs felt like stone and his arms kept making clicking and snapping noises every time he so much as did a squat or a push-up.

But he endured it all for the sole purpose of getting stronger. To become a Hero through his own means and methods.

However, he had also ran into a problem of his own. Due to the shitty state his apartment was in, the A/C had completely burnt out, and the landlord refused to get it fixed just for the simple fact he was lazy. At first, Jaune was irritated with that, but as time went by he grew to accept it for two reasons. With no air conditioning, Jaune could add the unbearable heat of his apartment as part of his training, mental conditioning he liked to say.

But some would just say he was being cheap because he didn't have to pay extra for air conditioning.

That said, Jaune was making progress in his training to get strong, but now he was about to add a new part of his training that at the time sounded like a really cool idea; and it all revolved around the innocent little drink sitting on his counter. It was in a glass and the liquid was a thick and sludgy green, a home remedy Jaune had concocted after looking up something called a _'Muscle Mass Shake'_

He had read about it in the weekly "Bods for Leading Man" issue and was curious about trying to see if it would work for him. However, what the shake required for ingredients had been a mix of things that were _way_ beyond his budget to attain. Thus, he had to make due with what he had, which resulted in the extremely experimental drink before his eyes.

It was a mix of orange juice, fish, chicken, broccoli, lettuce, tomato, spinach and all sorts of other vegetables that were healthy for the human body. However, underneath all that was one ingredient Jaune had put in that, at the high of his self-proclaim genius, thought was a good idea.

He had mixed in a handful of crushed dust, of all things.

Now it wasn't ordinary dust, or at least as far as he could tell. It was just something he found along the way during his last week run. He stumbled across an abandoned mine that was formerly own by the local mining company contracted by the Schnee corporation. There he came upon a rather strange discovery.

It was dust, there wasn't much, but enough to garner his attention. However, it was unlike any sort of dust he'd ever seen in any history book or school lesson. It had no color, it was clear to be honest, almost like glass. However, within the dust was an iridescent multitude of colors within that it was almost beautiful in a sense. Stranger still when he crushed it in his hands, a feat that surprised him as crystallized dust was supposedly harder than then most durable of minerals, it turned into a fine powder. He knew the basic colors and workings of dust. Of how each color represented the effect that particular dust had such as red being fire, blue being water, yellow being lightning, and brown being earth.

Yet this dust was nearly clear as day while being iridescent on the inside.

So Jaune decided to take a handful of crystallized rocks of it with him, simply out of curiosity if nothing else. However, in a moment of pure genius, _idiocy,_ he decided to crush one of these rocks and mix it into his drink. Just because he was curious what would happened if he drank it. He'd never heard of anyone actually ingesting dust before, and was curious to see the effects.

Now he was starting to regret that decision.

"C'mon Jaune, you got like...30 minutes now before training begins. You can do this." he mumbled to himself, his eyes stared warily at the glass of...gunk before him. He tried to be excited about it, what if by drinking this he got the power to shoot lightning out of his hands? Or control fire, or water? Ooooh what if he became an elemental bender like that bald kid with the flying byson in that one show.

 _'Remember though Jaune, there has been no research into people ingesting dust before.'_ he thought to himself with a grimm realization settling it. From his studies with his family and primary school he knew that dust was an energy source that was mostly used as an energy propellant. Each one, based on the color, was used for different things such as yellow or lightning was used to power their electrical technology along with other dust being used as a natural resource for fuel. He knew from his studies that crystallized dust was safe enough to be among the public, but powdered dust was said to be highly explosive. Yet this dust was nothing like that, or to be frank, it was nothing like he'd ever seen among his somewhat limited knowledge concerning dust. It didn't explode in his hand when he crushed the crystallized rock into dust or even effect his bare skin when in contact.

However, Jaune began to also think of the repercussions of what he was thinking about doing. There was little to no research done about people ingesting dust before, but he wagered that what was usually labeled as an energy propellant and a normal use for fuel or ammo wasn't something people went about ever day consuming as if it like common food. Was there adverse effects to consuming dust? Did it damage your internal organs by consuming it? The more Jaune thought about it, the more he concerned he became. What if this stuff was lethal? What if it crippled him or worse yet, what if it killed him?

…

…

 _'Oh what the hell do I really have to lose anyway?'_ he thought morbidly before taking the glass and pouring its contents down his throat in a single go. Slamming the glass down, accidentally shattering it in the process, Jaune however didn't even seem to register that fact as he stood there with a blank expression. The contents of the drink slowly going down his throat before finally reaching his stomach. He smacked his lips, blinking once and twice before looking to the glass again, or what remained of it in pieces.

"Huh...that wasn't so bad, tasted pretty goo- **!?** "

However, what Jaune and most people in Remnant didn't realize or believe to be true was that Dust was more than just an energy propellant or a source of energy to be used as fuel or electricity. Legends speak that at the dawn of creation, mankind was formed by the primordial essence that was known as Dust. Soon after, Grimm came to being which caused mankind to take up arms by utilizing dust as a means of weaponry. It was within that though people forgot one solid truth about Dust that had faded into myth and fairy tales.

The fact that Dust, was the primordial state of which mankind was created from. An essence that to this day no one truly understood due to its origins.

And Jaune Arc, had just consumed that which was the primordial essence in it's most concentrated form.

 _...He just made a grave mistake._

 _Crk!_

It hit him with the full force of a meteor once the first sound of his right wrist snapping out of place sounded.

 **Pain. _  
_**

That was all Jaune felt as his knees gave way. Falling to the floor he scrambled to try and figure out what was happening, but everything he did was overcome by the pure pain he was going through. His hand clawed at the floor, nails digging through the cheap plastic tiles and ripping up most of the flooring with a single vicious swipe. His eyes widened in pure agony whilst his hands went up to claw at his throat as pure raw agony rushed through every part of his body. It was like lava was running through his veins and acid was injected into his eyeballs. He tried to breathe, but all that came out was throat-tearing sound, a wracking cough that only resulted in spitting up an alarming amount of blood onto the floor.

He rolled around until finally he was belly down on the floor, his eyes dilating to small dots as saliva and blood dribbled out of his mouth. The blood vessels popped in his eyes causing them to become blood shot as the veins in his body seemed to ignite aflame causing them to rupture within his face and body. His usually pale complexion seemed to drop to that of a corpse now and as his eyes threatened to roll back into his head Jaune began to lose grip with the waking world as the effects of what he'd take tore at his body.

 _'This...was a bad idea,'_ the blond thought to himself as his his vision began to dissolve away. The black spots in his sight tearing away the fabric of the waking world as Jaune was consumed by the effects of his drink. Feeling his consciousness slipping away, Jaune fiercely gripped at the floor as a means to support his hold in the living world by whatever means.

Then...he felt something. Tickling at the back of his mind, whispering words of cold truth that pulled at his very soul was a voice without a tone or persona. It was soulless, but it was truth in every regard. A dark truth that he had tried to bury for these last 2 months.

 _What's the point of holding on? Your father threw you away, like a piece trash._

…..That was true, his father had tossed him away after failing the Signal entrance exam. He had stripped him of all that he was as Jaune Arc, the firstborn son of the Arc Clan. He was nothing now, just another passerby, a sub-average 13 year old boy with nothing to his name, but the clothes on his back, a few lien and the skills he was taught as a child.

 _Exactly, so again, what's the point of holding on? Your father hates you for the crippled state you were born with. Your mother has yet to contact you, and your loving sisters have yet to come see you. You are alone Jaune Arc, and you will die suffering alone._

That...that was right. _He was alone._ In the last moments of what would be his biggest mistake, he would be here, dead and alone on the floor in some cheap ass apartment in the outskirts of Patch. No one would know he was gone, and even then it would be too late as by then his cold corpse would have decomposed before anyone came to look for him. The only one that might come looking for him would be the landlord just because he was late on paying the rent.

So why was his body simply refusing to let go?

Why...

 _Why...why do you continue to struggle? What hope do you have in this life that keeps you rooted to this world? You have no family, no friends, no loved ones, nothing worthwhile about yourself besides the mundane skills you picked up as a child. Your life means absolutely nothing, so why do you refuse to **DIE?!**_

He...

 _'I...'_

However, the dark voice was silenced once he saw heard something. The voice of someone very dear to him, the voice of a man that was more of a father than his biological one.

" _My boy, to be a Hero means you must walk hand-in-hand with death. You must be willing to bear the burden of holding the world upon your shoulders while suffering untold amounts of pain just so the rest of the world can be protected. If you want to be a Hero, to protect everyone, you must become strong, so strong that you can endure anything thrown your way. If you want to be the Hero, the kind of Hero you aspire to become, you must endure all sorts of pain, look death in the eye and spit in its face. For the kind of Hero you want to be, you must break your body over and over and over again, until you have become the **strongest!** "_

A sudden calm washed over Jaune's fragmenting mind as warm realization took hold of the young man. He knew this voice, he knew it intimately well enough. It was the voice of a man that had been his caretaker for a good part of his life. The man had been everything to him, his father, brother, close confidant, and teacher.

It was the voice of his wise, if a bit perverted, Grandfather.

 _The words he speaks mean **NOTHING!**_

The other voice tried to repel the words of his grandfather, but Jaune had stopped listening. He could remember now, he remembered why he was doing all of this in the first place. To be a Hero was his dream, and he would be the strongest to do it. Even if had to break his body a thousand times over to do so, he would still do it.

"Even...even if my bones shatter..." he muttered into the vast void that was his subconscious. Even though they were just words, frail and easily forgotten, there was a temperance in them that held strong and firm to the reality of the situation.

"Even if...my body fails me..." he spoke again, strength slowly beginning to trickle back into his voice. His eyes slowly beginning to churn and smolder, as if an ember began to light aflame and stoked into an inferno.

"Even if Remnant wants me dead and even if death holds me..." the fragmented existence that was Jaune Arc, torn apart by the law of the world for doing what was simply beyond the conceptual word of idiotic and suicidal, began to piece themselves back together. A body, broken again and again and again by the perceptional wrath of the world and held in the icy grip of death. Beaten, but adaptable. Broken, but stronger then ever. Shattered, yet sharper then any sort of sword.

It was a, but with a whim that Jaune finally opened his eyes in the vast darkness of his own consciousness. Yet his sapphire eyes burned with an intensity that seemed to pierce through the veil of his own would be death. Words of simple meaning, but holding the power that defied reality rung true all the same. They came out, spilling forth from his lips in a snarl akin to an enraged God.

" _I WILL PROVE MY EXISTENCE AS SOMEONE WORTH SOMETHING IN THIS WORLD!"_ His shout caused the realm of his consciousness to crack causing a vile and foul mist of darkness to spew forth into the form of tendrils. They acted with haste, as if alarmed of this entity. They wrapped around the body of the existence called Jaune Arc, but his body reacted _violently_. He pulled and ripped at the tendrils restricting him with a ferocity that would have sent a Elder Grimm Wyvern running.

 _I WILL NOT BE CHAINED DOWN ANYMORE!"_ his scream of rage shattered his sub-conscious world, the dark realm fell away akin to fragmented glass. However, hiding behind all those shards and fragments of his sub-conscious was a true terror that lurked behind it all. Staring straight at Jaune was just a mass of ebony, it had no body, but it's mass seemed all encompassing. It writhed, spasmed as if it were alive, and it's red eyes glared balefully at the existence that denied it.

And Jaune glared back, his blue eyes ignited into a furious inferno that presented his fury.

" _AND I WILL BE THE STRONGEST HERO TO HAVE EVER LIVED!"_ He roared just as the mass of darkness exploded into a sludge that encompassed the whole realm he was in. However, as it came around it, whispering honeyed sweet words filled with dark false promises, Jaune's face only scrunched up into a furious scowl. He ignored the whispers, and lurched forward. His body curled up into a ball, knees tucked in and arms pulled in a cross.

Then the impossible occurred, an error in the system happened, a hiccup in the worlds law spawned as Jaune's body yanked outwards, fists clenched and body tense as he let loose a scream.

No...no this was no scream, no yell, no roar, or anything of the sort.

It was simply, the physical manifestation of Jaune's built anger.

" _ **I. WILL. BE. THE. STRONGEST!"**_

What followed was nothing short of amazing and terrifying.

An eruption of light came forth, it was akin to like a supernova or the colliding of a thousand dying stars. The explosion destroyed the darkness and with it...

The last vestiges of Jaune's own bottled up depression, taken hold and formed into nothing, but an unbridled fury that could not be quenched.

Then everything went white.

* * *

" _...He's alive."_

That was the first thing Jaune heard upon feeling his consciousness return to the waking world. He knew not of who the voice was, and to be frank he really didn't care at the current moment. All he did care about was the fact that he could his entire body was in so so _so_ much pain. He bit back the hiss that threatened to leave his lips though as he stubbornly leaned his back, an action that only ushered in another wave of excruciating pain through his body, and into the soft and warm pillow beneath him.

...Wait a second.

A pillow wasn't supposed to be warm, well his anyway since his pillow was merely his bundled up hoodie.

" _It was a blessing you got here in time, I didn't know what else I could do for the kid."_

He heard another voice again, it was different, male due to it's distinction in tone. However, there was a sense of urgency and relief in the man that confused Jaune. Daring to try and open his eyes, Jaune did and he was thankful that it was dark out and the only lightning was a dimly lit candle beside him. However, his vision swam with black spots and flashes of white. He could faintly see that he was still in his apartment, but he could see a man standing in the corner, and to his frustration the man was shrouded for the most part by the darkness.

But then he flinched as a soft caressing hand ran through his hair as another voice, the one from before he recalled spoke out again, and faintly he liked the sound of it. It was a woman, her voice was cold and aloof, but there was the smallest touch of familiarity to it that he just couldn't quite place. He couldn't help the sigh that escaped him though as her fingers seemed to have an effect on him as her hand went from his hair and to his head. As if her touch had a calming effect on him that seemed to ease the pain he was in.

She spoke again, her words carrying off in a way that seemed to lull him to sleep.

" _It was good you did call me little brother, but your worry is misplaced. While I was able to help him somewhat, he was still able to wrench himself away from death by his own will."_ the woman's words were lost on Jaune at this point as he leaned further into whom he guessed was the woman's lap and felt his eyes beginning to close once more into a more peaceful slumber.

" _...I see, but still I'm relieved he survived. His mother would never had let either one of us live if her son died. We've done a hell of a job so far in being the boys chosen Guardians."_ the man stated to which made the woman chuckled slightly before she resumed petting of the young man.

" _Indeed, but fret not. Despite how that **pathetic little wretch** of a father Jaune may have been raised under, he was still able to overcome this and come out stronger. I've always known he was strong, in spite of his faults, and now he's proven it to me."_ the woman spoke with words of comfort and praise that it made his heart soar. He could feel her, somehow or someway, leaning over, and through his dimming vision he saw her, the face of the woman who spoke of such praise for him.

Long ebony tresses, wild as nature, but delicate as silk fell down like that of a pitch black mane. Her pale complexion shining in the moonlight and her ruby red eyes looking down at him. _Beautiful_ , was the word that came to Jaune once he saw her as that was the only way he could describe the woman above him. And as if somehow reading his thoughts, a smirk played across her features as her eyes seemed to stare straight into his own blue ones, but then the man spoke once more.

" _You really do love that boy, don't you sis?"_ the mans words seemed to carry a bit of bitterness that only made the woman's smirk grow as she glanced at the figure before looking back down at Jaune. Though as his eyes finally closed, his last sight being the woman above him, he felt her lean down and a warm sensation spread through his body as lips made contact with his forehead.

And the last thing he heard before passing out was a single phrase.

" _You have absolutely no idea, Qrow."_

* * *

Waking up after a long nights rest was such a pain for Jaune Arc. While he stuck his training regime, and went to bed every night sore and exhausted he still had trouble getting out of bed the next day. It was like his sisters would say, Jaune wasn't exactly a morning person. However, this morning was just different for a multitude of reasons.

For one his body was still in mind-numbing _pain_ which had been a good way to wake him up when he tried to move his body. Trying to just move his arm was like thrusting that same arm into the center of a volcano. However, his pain tolerance had taken a big hit, especially last night, and he grit his teeth and bared with it as he pushed himself up so he could get the day started. His eyes glanced to his scroll, which was strangely at his apartment door the next day after he had left it.

It was now 3:30 A.M.

"By Oum I've really gotten used to this sleeping schedule haven't I?" Jaune muttered to himself as he stalked to his bathroom to get ready for the day. Idly grabbing his training clothes, just as Jaune went to cleaning himself he stopped and looked over at the brown bag of dust crystals he'd taken from that mine awhile back and his mind went back to all that had happened yesterday.

He scowled as memories of it all came flooding back.

"That had been a really bad idea, I nearly died there didn't I?" he spoke to himself before going into his bathroom. Placing his clothes to the side and pulling off the clothes he had on now Jaune went about getting the shower ready. However, the scowl on his face remained as he kept thinking about what had happened to him right after he had chugged that drink down. Directly after that he remembered the excruciating pain that engulfed his body, he literally feel his blood boiling beneath his skin and his bones breaking and repairing all at the same time. His unique form of regenerative trait working into overdrive to try and recover from the damage he had brought upon himself.

As he stepped into the shower he shivered on the spot just before getting used to the ice cold water splashing onto his skin. Once he began washing himself though, he thought about what had happened after blacking out the first time.

"What was that place? It was pitch black, was that what people call your sub-conscious or something? So bizarre." he commented on that as he began washing his hair.

"It was like I woke up there dying. It's like someone or something was desperately trying to kill me. They broke my body, they broke it over and over and over and over again. I lost count how many times it happened, but..." Jaune said before sighing, his scowl turning into a lesser frown.

"I felt something else there as well. Like someone was trying to keep me from dying. I was in pieces, scattered, nearly forgot everything that I was. That voice... _that damned voice_ tried to make me give up, but then I remembered grandpa's words. It's what gave me the strength to push through it all and piece myself back together." the young man rambled to himself as he rinsed off the shampoo. That done he grabbed a bar of soap and began washing his body, he was on auto-pilot at this point as he kept thinking about what happened more and more.

 _'I remember fighting against that dark...whatever it was, but then I was so full of...energy. Was that my aura? No that's impossible, but then who were those people with me when I woke up the first time?'_ Jaune's thoughts took a sudden stop at that once he remembered that particular memory. His cheeks flushed in both equal parts of embarrassment and humility once he remembered the woman from last night. The way his head was laid in her lap, leaning into the way she ran her hand through his hair and face.

Then her face appeared in his mind, long wild black hair that fell into a mane, a pale complexion that was as bright at the moon. Her blood red eyes staring into his azure blue ones and the way she _smirked_ at him.

Suddenly, Jaune felt the phenomena of every impressionable young teenager boy suffers when under the plight of seeing or remembering something that just gets their blood going. In Jaune's case, the blood rushed downward and he looked down with a narrowed glare as his body betrayed his self-control.

''Oh for the love of Oum, you just had to start now didn't you?''

However, through his annoyance though, Jaune remembered something else from that memory. The woman had spoken the name of the other figure that was with them, and it gave him pause.

"Wait she said the guys name was Qrow? The same Qrow that was in my contacts list?" he thought to himself just before rising his body from the soap. Stopping the shower and pulling the curtain back, Jaune stepped out before grabbing a towel. So that he could begin drying himself off.

"If it was the same Qrow then eventually he'll show up right? Or maybe I should give him a call just to find out what's what?"

He thought about that and wondered if it was wise to bring someone into his life right now, especially since he himself was already in such a state.

…

"Nah it can wait." he concluded before hanging his towel of the curtain. Walking to the mirror, Jaune put on his deodorant and then began brushing his teeth. Gooing in and around his teeth and brushing his tongue, Jaune stopped. Frowning that the mirror was fogged up he gave it a good swipes to clear it up so he could at least see himself.

….

And he promptly let out a scream.

" _WHAT THE FUCK?!"_

Indeed, it was truly a moment of shock and surprise for the 13 year old, close to going on 14, Jaune Arc as he looked into the mirror. Sapphire blue eyes wide in shock in pure confusion and surprise. Trembling his hand went to his hair and his eyes only seemed to dilate into small dots once he saw what had captured his attention.

His hair, his wonderful, scraggly blonde hair that he had been so proud of, hair that would make women swoon and call out his name in love-struck wonderment was...was...

 _Totally all there_ , except for one glaring thing.

A lock, a single bang of his hair was now the purest of white. Like that of the shattered moon that hung overhead during Remnants nights. It was almost easy to miss if not for the stark contrast it had with the rest of his bright yellow hair.

Jaune simply stared at it for the longest moment before looking down.

"You know what? Fuck it I don't care anymore. So much weird shit has happened that this is just too small to really care about." with a gruff he went about brushing his teeth. Rinsing his mouth, he got dressed, grabbed a banana and once it was consumed went about his training. Doing his best to ignore all that had happened prior to today.

Thus, once he finished his home exercise of push-ups, sit-ups, and squats and left his apartment to go do his 15 KM run, he missed the single black crow watching him from the tree line. It's blood red eyes watching him with keen interest before it began to follow him with one stray thought running through the birds mind.

 _'Now let's see how you progress with the limiter you've broken no longer holding you back, Jaune.'_

* * *

 **That's the end of that, and before you even begin to ask questions let me explain the reason for this chapter. I've always wondered what would happen if a human were to ever consume the very essence that from which all humans were originally born from. What would occur and how would that have ever been explained? I thought about it, and the more I did I came up with this result for Jaune.**

 **Am I gonna tell you what that is? Hell no.**

 **Now that aside, everything from here on out is just gonna be so much fun to write. And by that mean I've already got started on the next chapter. SUPER STOKED!**

 **That's about everything, hope you enjoyed. Leave a review if you did and give me your thoughts on the chapter.**

 **Ja'ne!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay so a wonderful reviewer whose name I won't mention wanted to know if I was gonna be making the next future chapters about Jaune's training. My answer to that is this. Yes, but in the way you'd usually not expect. I'm doing it in time intervals where important events happening in Jaune's life take precedence over all else. I don't wanna make it boring, but I don't wanna skip ahead too much which is why I'm compromising with this instead.**

 **I also got a lot of other wonderful reviewers with their suggestions and I'm quite happy for their support, it really makes me happy and all the more excited for this story.**

 **However, I do want to point out one _"Guest Reviewer"_ who pointed out a flaw in my theory for the consumption of dust. He or she, don't know who you are mysterious reviewer, had said that in the episode "World of Remnant: Dust" that people could fuse themselves with fire dust. Okay, good, I knew that, but how does that correspond with the consumption of dust itself?  
**

 **Fusion is to mix two things into one. However, consumption is to basically consume something and let it digest inside your body. Whoever you are, you're blasting me on something that doesn't even remotely sound similar. Fusing and consumption are two entirely different things, and I suggest you learn that before you start flaming me, understand? Good.**

 **Now with all that said.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

" _What do you mean he's dangerous? He's my best friend! He wouldn't hurt me just on principle alone. He saved me...and I saved him. He always had my back from the very moment we met, and I'll have his back to. I...love him more than you can possibly imagine, he means the world to me just as I do to him. So, if you continue to slander Jaune...then you'll be tasting the end of my baby, Crescent Rose." **~Ruby Rose**_

 **Jaune Arc: Power Redefined**

 _Volume 1: The Breaking of Limits_

 _Chapter 3: Blood Moon_

The outskirts of Patch was a rather nice place to go when you just wanted to get away from the general populace of everyday mundane society. The outskirts was simply forests that stretched for miles all around Patch while leaving a few clearings here and there for the general campsite. The forests only stopped though when they reached the cliffs of Patch that overlooked the ocean and jagged rocks below. To go there with a couple friends to hang out or simply to relax was a good way to unwind when you felt tension was taking over most of your life.

However to go there alone was simply asking for a death wish.

Despite how safe Patch was since it was the central point of the Signal Academy, a school dedicated to the schooling and training of huntsmen and huntresses alike, the small continent still faced a problem. When venturing out into the outskirts of Patch you had be aware of your surroundings and always be prepared to protect yourself in case of an emergency. The problem they faced was, like any other country, was the ever impending attack of the Grimm. No matter where you were in the world, the Grimm were an ever present threat due to their unique nature for being attracted to negative emotions such as anger, sadness, sorrow, anguish, and depression.

If there was anyone in the world, whether it be a single individual or a group of people that had a strong enough amount of negative emotions such as these then there was little to doubt that the Grimm would appear. It was simply a common fact that the inhabitants of Remnant had come to accept. The Grimm was a constant threat to both Human and Faunus alike and to say otherwise, oblivious to the true danger that they represented would only paint you as a fool.

And that was a lesson one particular resident in the forests was learning _very quickly._

…

Ruby Rose was a rather unorthodox young girl. 11 years of age and the younger sister to her 13 year old older sister Yang Xiao Long. She, much like her sister, was an aspiring Huntress with the talent to be one of the best born within her. Though she was too young to be taken into Signal Academy she was still being trained on how to fight Grimm by her Uncle Qrow which led to her become a bit proficient in the use of a Scythe in battle. Though being nowhere near to what she wanted to be, her Uncle had said she was getting better. However, with that said, due to her training by her uncle Ruby also ventured into another avenue of being a Huntress. Since all Huntsmen and Huntresses alike had to forge their own weapons, Ruby was introduced early into the making of a weapon and what it took to craft your own.

The day Qrow showed her how to craft a weapon, something as basic as a sword? The very next day Ruby had wrote up a schematic on that very same sword only it was far more advanced and in a sense perfected to such a degree that Qrow admitted her schematic to the Atlas Military which was now a sword being utilized by the majority of it's infantry.

In short, Ruby Rose was an 11 year old aspiring huntress and a weapons fanatical genius like no other.

However, in spite of all this, Ruby was still an 11 year old girl with all the dreams and aspiration a child her age should have. Raised in a family of hunters, those being the best of the best may have influenced her to become one herself, but it didn't stop her from still being the child that she was. Which was why she had come out here into the outskirts of her home Patch, just so she act like the young girl she was.

She had come to visit the grave of her mother, Summer Rose, the person who had been the strongest and most beautiful woman Ruby had ever known. The last time she ever saw her was waving her goodbye before she set out on what should have been a simple mission. Only it hadn't been simple, Summer never returned and a body was never recovered from wherever she went on her mission, Top Secret as her father put it.

But her mothers disappearance had hurt her family, but her most of all. She looked up to her mother, Summer had been the center of her world in all things. She was there when she fell down and scrapped her knee. She was there to teach her how to bake her famous cookies and how to cook for the rest of their family, seeing as her sister and father couldn't cook to save their lives.. And her mother had been there all the time to tuck her in and reading her a fairy tale before going to bed.

With her gone, had left Ruby Rose with a hole in her life that she just couldn't quite recover from. Despite how much she pretended to not understand what had happened or wanted to appear alright in the face of her family, she was still suffering from the disappearance of her mother. So, when a grave was made in honor of her mother she went to visit gravestone daily every week. Just so she could find...something.

Was it solace? Peace of mind? She didn't really know, but today she just visited the gravestone like any other day, but today had been especially stressful for the young girl. With Yang 6 months now into Signal and her own training with Qrow being upped for whatever reason by her Uncle had left her feeling stressed and tense throughout most of the time. It was only worse 4 months ago when during the appointed hour of her training with Qrow that something happened with her usually drunk Uncle.

Something caused him to become incredibly panicked and after telling her to go home he vanished to deal with "Personal Business" whatever that was.

That coupled with everything else had essentially caused her stress to bubble up and break the dam she held on her emotions regarding her mother. It came out slow at first, but in her lonesome little world nothing was there to hold it back. No one to be there to hold her and tell her everything would be okay. She was alone and in that state of mind her own bottled up emotions came forth, bursting with all the speed of her own semblance.

She had _cried_ , wailed as loud as her lungs could allow, falling to her knees as salty tears fell from her eyes before the gravestone of her mother. There was nothing to hold it back, no Yang to hug her and tell her it was okay or her father to say everything would be alright. She just wanted her mother back, and as childish as she was she still knew the cold hard fact of the matter.

She wouldn't be getting her mother back.

In hindsight, that probably wasn't a good idea because right after her episode she heard a growl behind her and she turned only to pale considerably when she found herself surrounded by Grimm. Namely an Ursa, two Deathstalkers, and a King Taijitu; it was upon seeing them though that Ruby did the only thing she could do at that moment.

She ran.

Or to be more precise she used her semblance, which allowed her to travel at such speeds that the normal eye wouldn't even be able to perceive.

For as much training she was given, she was never taught how to fight a Grimm, not even Yang had been taught how to fight Grimm yet which had been why she ran. However, she had only recently discovered her semblance and the most she could use it for was a total of 2 times after that she'd be dangerously low on her aura reserves to do anything else.

Which was the current problem she faced right now.

Panting in loss of breath as sweat ran down her brow, Ruby Rose ran past the bushes and branches of the forests. The pounding and roars of the Grimm behind her only added incentive for her to run as fast as her little legs could. Her black hair with red tips was in disarray whilst her wide expressive silver eyes were glinting in alarm and fear for the situation she was in. The clothes she wore were in complete tatters as branches and thorns tore at the fabric as she ran without any regard to them.

''Keep running, don't stop. Remember what Uncle Qrow said, if you ever encounter a Grimm just keep running. Yep _great advice_ Uncle!" she swore under her breathe before she heard another roar and it was her instincts that saved her as she jumped to the side avoiding a swipe from an Ursa now.

And it was _huge_ , easily towering over her small frame and some of the trees. It's black mass of a body casting a shadow over Ruby, and its spiky bone metallic armor plates glinting in the light of the sun. It's red/yellow eyes glaring down at her with all the fury a Grimm could have for mankind. It's maw opened revealing a mouth full of razor sharp teeth and saliva pooling out from it's bottom lip.

"W-well...aren't you the big guy?" she commented trying to make light of the situation.

The Ursa _Major_ only let out as growl before it gave a roar so loud it caused the ground around them to tremble.

"...Okay then."

Silver eyes wide Ruby reacted in the only way she could. She may not have been taught how to fight Grimm, but that damn well didn't mean she wouldn't try her best.

 _'Besides this times as good as any to test out my baby.'_ she smiled, nervous, but firm. Rolling to the side from the Ursa's swipe she whipped out her weapon of choice. It was shined with a gray metallic sheen, it was a compact object that was strapped to her back and as she pulled it out the thing _transformed_. Folding out into what could have only been considered a wicked looking Scythe/Sniper Rifle hybrid. The whole weapon itself had yet to be pained, but at its core the weapon was the result of all her work on forging her own specialized weapon of choice, no small amount of influence from her Uncle Qrow of course.

The crescent shaped scythe gleamed dangerously as Ruby held it up against the Ursa Major with all the training she had. Instincts had all, but saved her up until this point and she would be relying on those instincts to get her out of this mess she'd put herself in. Loading her baby with fire dust ammo she cocked it and gave a small little nervous grin.

"Well let's see what I can do."

What happened next was nothing short of breathtaking.

Ruby had become a blur of motion, rose petals following her as she sped toward the Ursa, the torn remnants of her cape fluttering in the wind as she sped toward her target. Spinning the scythe in hand she jumped avoiding a swipe from the Ursa before bringing her scythe upwards like that of a windmill. It was almost too fast to see as the added velocity of her speed and the way of her attack landed, but sure enough as she landed behind the Ursa the grimm only stood there, like that of statue.

 **Crash!**

"Woah!" Ruby in surprise jumped to the side as the head of that Ursa Major hit the ground in a loud thud clearly and cleanly decapitated from it's body.

Blinking in surprise as the Grimm began to vanish in a smoke of black Ruby stopped to look at her weapon and herself for a moment. "I...I did it?" she mumbled to herself in disbelief for a moment. She did it? Had she, an 11 year old girl just killed an Ursa Major all on her own? No prior experience before hand, just a bit of desperation and determination.

…

"WOOO I DID IT!" she jumped in joy at her achievement. Crescent Rose in the air as her arms went upwards, a megawatt grin spreading over her face.

 _ **Ssszk!**_

She suddenly froze as the sounds of hissing and the snapping of claws. Daring to look behind her, Ruby only saw a multitude of red/yellow eyes of the other Grimm coming toward her. Now usually Ruby wasn't a girl that would ever swear, hell she even had her own swear jar for when Qrow, dad or her sister Yang ever swore. It was from that jar she was able to buy the components needed for her new weapon. However, in this situation there was only one word that could describe the situation she was in.

"...Shit."

 _Exactly._

* * *

For the people living in Patch, they could honestly say that their island was probably to most safe and tranquil place in all of Remnant. Matched only by the likes of Vale or Atlas, this claim though did not come without reason. Patch was a large and secure island that was just to the west of Vale itself. It was the home to Signal Academy, the school for which aspiring huntresses and huntsmen alike were trained to combat the forces of the Grimm. Patch was also the home to many huntsmen and huntresses that had long since graduated and made a name for themselves throughout Remnant.

So, this sense of security did seem to have merit, but no one was truly safe.

That was a fundamental truth one young man had come realize during his stay here in Patch.

 _'It's been six months since I started my training here and already I've come to learn far more than I think I'd ever learn in Signal.'_ Jaune Arc thought as he did daily annual 15 kilometer run. Sweat poured from his head as he ran across the outskirts of Patch. In between the city line and the edge of the forests surrounding the large city. He kept jogging though as he neared the end of his run by just a few kilometers.

A lot had happened since the dust consumption incident that had nearly killed him. For one, while he had continued on within his normal training regime he had completely stopped the idea of ever making another shake again. He had also taken those dust crystals and shoved them to the side purely out of principle alone. After just one nearly killed him he didn't want anything to do with them, but he couldn't get rid of them entirely because of one thing and one thing only.

Somehow that incident, through either being on deaths door or the consumption of the dust, had done something to him. And among the effects done to him was something that had brought him to tears once he realized what it was.

It had forcefully unlocked his aura.

How he knew this? Simple. During the moments of his training for the last few months after the incident he began to notice a white aura igniting itself around his body. He instinctively knew this was his aura, but his was just different from everyone else, even when he saw his family using aura. When other people used aura it would glow around the edge of their body like that of light coming off a candle. The difference though was that when Jaune tried to bring up his aura it didn't come up into the soft warm glow of light like everyone else.

His body literally burst with his aura, his body would become so engulfed in his power that it was akin to like being wreathed in a armor of molten fire. His aura came off him in fiery white flames which licked off his body and floated upwards. he had come to notice that when he used his aura it had effected the environment as well, and this effect only grew the stronger his aura got and more he charged up his aura. When he had used it the first time he had been understandably freaked out, but he was much more excited to try and test out using his aura.

 _'Thankfully, no one has figured out what caused the ocean to split in half that day.'_ Jaune thought with a sweat drop as he glanced down at his body, as if truly seeing it for the first time.

Come to find out, ever since that incident, the training he'd been doing had furthered his level of power to a height that he never really thought was possible. If he really tried putting the effort into using his body than he could do things that he couldn't have ever dreamed of. He tried jumping and he underestimated the amount of strength he used and instead of going a couple inches into the air...

He had instead shot so far up into the sky that he could see the whole of Patch and the coasts of Vale. What was even more strange was when he started to fall back down, and letting out a girlish, _manly!,_ scream of terror of his supposed impending doom of becoming a human pancake, he had instead hit the ground with no harm done to his body. That was the day Jaune realized something was different about him, and he knew this since as he continued his training regime he could literally feel himself getting _stronger._ Not just in body, but in mind as well.

Physically he hadn't changed much besides growing a few inches taller, but his body was unnaturally fit at this point in time. Sure, yeah, he was a growing young adolescent teenager who was bound to hit his growth spurt. However, the rate at which Jaune was growing in muscle mass was just too strange to be considered normal. It wasn't like his body was bulging in muscle and veins like those of a body builder, but for every part of his body that could have muscle, did have muscle. He was, as his sister Bianca would say, filling out in all the right places.

He didn't put much thought into that though. Yeah, sure, he was gaining muscle, but it was all compact into his frame. To be honest he was glad his training clothes were so baggy otherwise he'd feel a bit awkward if people saw his body. Especially the girls, Oum knows he received enough of that kind of attention from his sisters.

However, there was one other thing that had changed since the incident and that was his _hair_. Thankfully, it wasn't falling out or anything, but that one bang that had turned completely white the day after the incident had somehow spread. Most of the tips on the left side of hair were now completely white. For awhile he was a bit freaked out by it, but he just stopped caring and just labeled it as another weird thing that only happens to him.

Idly, Jaune looked to his hair and frowned for a moment. _'But it is getting pretty long, and I don't got Olivia to cut my hair anymore. Should I try to cut it myself?'_ that was another thing. Since he was barely making ends meet to supply himself he couldn't afford to get his hair cut which resulted with it becoming long as a result. Usually when he lived with his _family_ it would be Olivia, his second oldest sister, and the mother figure of the children who took up the responsibility of cutting his hair. However, with her gone he had to leave it as is causing it to grow past his neckline and reaching his shoulder-blades in a disheveled mess that some would say looked wild or untamed.

To him it was just something he'd had to figure out when he had the chance.

Thankfully though, it was his fifth month into his training that Jaune decided to test out his aura by seeing his augment his punches. Deciding to test it at the cliffs of Patch, he willed the smallest amount of his aura into his fist, and with all the determination he could muster he swung his fist outward just to see what would happen.

Jaune had never been more scared and excited of his power than at that moment.

When he fist swung outwards he had heard the faint sound of a distant boom before a shockwave shot off from his fist. It had been so powerful it knocked him right on his ass, but when he got back up to see the result he was left standing there with his jaw unhinged once he saw what had happened. Now take into account that day the weather was cloudy and had a chance for thunderstorms. So, when he punched the air and the shockwave hit, the entire sky _cleared up_ and the ocean in the path of his punch was _split_ in half.

That day Jaune learned to never _ever_ empower his punches with his aura unless in the most dire of circumstances. However, that didn't make his normal punches any less devastating because as of right now his punches and kicks could-

" _SOMEBODY HELP MEEEE~!"_

His hear perked up at the sound of a girl screaming and he stopped, his digging into the soil as he turned to where he heard the sound. Eyes narrowed in concentration, and his ears twitched again once he heard the sound of something else. The screaming and cries of a young girl, the snapping of branches, crunching of boots against grass and leafs, and the distant roars of...

" _Grimm_." Jaune didn't even hesitate before he took off, his legs tensed and sprung as he shot off toward where he heard the sound. Incidentally, as he shot off the resounding aftereffect ruptured the ground of where he was last standing. A distant boom echoed among the area as his form blurred out from existence. He didn't run nor did he jump as his first single movement just sent him hurling toward where he could hear the sounds, and the closer he got the more he clenched his fist in trepidation and anger.

There was no hesitation in his mind. While he had never fought a Grimm before he had long since resolved himself that if he wanted to become a Hero then he needed to learn how to fight the Grimm. If he wanted to save people he needed to react with his heart instead of his mind. To be a Hero was his goal, his dream, his purpose in this world, and as if some higher power saw this, gave him this sign.

He ignored the branches and trees that got in his way as his azure blue eyes glared straight ahead, and as he passed another tree and appeared into the clearing did he finally see what he had been hearing. He saw _her_ , a little girl that couldn't have been 11 or 12 trembling where she stood as she faced off against two Deathstalkers and a King Taijitu. Held in her hands was a rather wicked looking scythe, but Jaune was looking more at her state of unrest.

Her clothes were torn, her bright red cape was in tatters, her body was trembling like a leaf in a hurricane, her black and red hair was in a mess, and her unique silver eyes were wide in complete terror at what she was facing. However, he saw something else, her eyes were bloodshot, and tears pooled from her eyes as she stood there in what would be her death.

 _She was crying._

There was nothing else to think about. A white hot haze took over Jaune as his heart hammered within his chest with all the ferocity of a thunderstorm.

 **Th-thump!**

Jaune grit his teeth, his lips parting way to reveal a snarl that was akin to an angered lion. Something deep, guttural, and _primal_ sounded in the very back of his throat before it ripped its way from his mouth and into a growl that was simply _inhuman._

" _ **GRIIIIMMMMM!"**_

Jaune acted without hesitation, his aura ignited to life and he just blinked from existence. His azure blue eyes igniting into a white hot fury that burned with the intensity of the sun. Coming down like a comet he aimed himself in-between the girl and the Grimm as one of the Deathstalkers shot it's stinger out to impale the girl.

 **Boom!**

* * *

This was it.

This was how she was going to die.

Ruby Rose, aspiring Huntress, cut down before her prime by a couple of Grimm. Oh she could see the headlines now, weapons genius Ruby Rose eaten alive by an Ursa or impaled by a fucking Deathstalker.

 _'Oh I am so so sorry dad, I'm sorry Uncle Qrow, I am so sorry Yang, if I somehow survive this I am SO never leaving home alone again.'_ she cried as her eyes looked upon the Grimm coming up to her. As if feeding off her misery, and she was pretty sure they were, they only hastened their approach on her. The Ursa's claws at the ready, the Deathstalkers pincers snapper as its stinger weaved back in forth in preparation, and the King Taijitu hissing at her, ready for its next meal.

Her knees quaked underneath the weight of the situation she was in. The weight of Crescent Rose, her baby, almost seemed unbearable at this point, but she simply refused to let go of it because she knew, for as young and naive as she was, to let go of her weapon was just a universal sign of surrender. And to surrender to the Grimm was just asking for a death wish.

No she refused to let go, but she couldn't move either. Fear had overtaken her body and with it the last fleeting vestiges of her self-control. Fammit she was just an 11 year old girl, why did she have to come out here alone just to visit her mothers grave. She _knew better_ than to do this, but dammit today was just one of those days to let go, but she couldn't even have that could she.

"Am I...am I not even allowed feel sad for you Mom? Can I not even cry for you without putting myself in danger? Why?...it's...it's not fair mom." Ruby mumbled to herself as her impending doom loomed ever closer, with each step she knew her end came ever closer, but she could only look down. Tears fell down her face, crescent rose's edge teetering on the ground as her vision blurred with tears that just kept coming.

 _'Maybe...it's better this way...maybe...I can finally see mom again. Yang doesn't need me nor dad or Uncle Qrow.'_ her morbid thoughts continued as the Grimm neared her, and Ruby simply closed her eyes causing another trail of tears to flow down her cheeks.

 _'But mom...she was always strong, she was like...like...supermom. When she was home she would always bake us cookies and when she had to go on a mission she'd be slaying monsters and come back to tell us tales of her adventures. She...never gave up. Am I...going to soil her memory by doing just that?'_ she thought about that and a angry frown formed upon her tear stricken face.

No.

She was _not!_

But then, what could she could?

 _Nothing._ As determined as she was now, there wasn't a thing she could do with the state she was. She was exhausted, her aura reserves dangerously low, and she couldn't utilize her semblance to get away. What little training she had wasn't enough to get her out of this situation. However, she still picked up her scythe and looked back up into the glaring visage of the Grimm before her. Her hands tightened around her weapon and she breathed in.

And then out.

Glaring, her silver eyes glistened like the shattered moon that hung overhead and in spite of her panting she readied Crescent Rose. A smile soon playing across her face.

"Well what are ya waiting for? _Come and get me._ "

That was all the incentive they needed as the Ursa roared and King Taijitu reared it's head back. The Deathstalker simply clacked its pincers in a deadly rhythm just before it's stinger shot forward. Tensing Ruby watched as the attack soared toward her, but as it did her smile widened.

 _'Sorry Yang.'_

…

But then, something happened, something both miraculous and terrifying occurred within that split second of what would have assuredly been her death.

 _ **!**_

 **Pressure.** Heavy, dense, suffocating, all encompassing fell upon the clearing with all the subtlety of a rampaging Boarbatusk. It was for an instant, but Ruby had fallen to her knees due to had what just fell upon the world. However, as soon as it vanished something else came up that only confused the young girl even more.

The ground started to quake.

"W-what the? What's going on!?" she scrambled to find balanced as the ground beneath her begin to crack and rumble beneath her feet. The wind rushed around her, causing the trees around her and the Grimm to stagger in befuddlement as well. Gripping Crescent Rose in hand looked around her in both shock and a bit of fear as she watched the ground itself tear away into boulders that were floating upwards into the sky.

That's when she decided to dare look up, something in her chest ushering her to look up, and when she did all emotion was washed away as she saw what could only be described as a bright star.

" _Pretty..."_

But then came the rage filled _roar_ that sent a chill down her spine _._

" _ **GRIIIIMMMM!"**_

Then that same star came crashing down between her and what would and should have been her grizzly demise.

 **Boom!**

Rock and debris shot up into the air and Ruby threw her arm up to shield her face from the flying gravel. The ground beneath her had stopped quaking, but the sense of imbalance was still there. Gripping her weapon in one hand, Ruby tried to peer through the smoke to see what just happened. Moments ticked by as the dust and debris slowly began to dissipate and as it did Ruby finally got to see what had just dropped down between her and the Grimm.

And it would be an understatement to say she was just a little bit shocked at what she saw.

It was a boy, a young man that couldn't have been any older than herself, maybe by a few years, but no more than that. His hair was much like hers in a sense that it was mostly bright yellow, but going down his hair turned a stark white, much like the moon above. He stood a head taller than she did, and he was clothed in only a pair of black sneakers, light blue jogging pants and a simple black hoodie. However the baggy clothes didn't even hide the imposing figure he struck as it clung to him through every movement and every calming breathe he took.

 _His back is so broad._

There was an odd sense of comfort in that stray thought Ruby had, but as she looked up to him her body froze in shock when she saw the same stinger from the Deathstalker had been stopped. Not because the Grimm had retreated either, but that the attack had been stopped itself.

Because the boy had the stinger _gripped_ in his hand.

 _'How...'_ yes that was a good question. How was a boy not much older than she stopping a Deathstalkers stinger with just his hand? How was he doing it?

Was he that strong?

"Hey..." suddenly Ruby perked up when she heard him speak, his voice was rough, but there was certain warmth to it that seemed to calm down her rattled nerves. She looked to see he was looking over his shoulder, in spite of the fact the Deathstalker was trying, and _failing_ , to pull back its stinger. His eyes glanced at her and a smile formed on his face as his eyes met hers.

 _'Wow...and people call my eyes pretty.'_ the little Rose thought to herself as her silver glistening eyes met an odd mixture of what was a majority of sapphire mixed with a shade of an inner white that made his eyes seem much like hers. Silver, but with a blueish tint that seemed to glow with a majesty that confounded her very being.

" _You're safe now."_ her ears perked up at those words, and she looked at him, questioning him with a tilt of her head, but he simply turned back to glare at the Grimm before him. Her eyes caught his fingers clenching around the stinger of the first Deathstalker. Then she finally saw him _react_ as the other Grimm attacked him.

" **RAAH!"** Th Ursa came from his left, but the young man simply _jerked_ his arm back and in the process _ripped_ of the Deathstalkers tail and stinger before spun around slammed it through the Ursa's skull.

"Four" the boy muttered to himself before his gaze snapped to the other Grimm.

The moment had been so fast that Ruby had barely been able to catch what had happened, so dazed by it she was only taken out of her shock when the Deathstalker let out a painful screech of pain.

"Woah..."

Jaune didn't stop there as the Ursa fell backwards before hitting the ground. He spun on his heel before jumping over the second Deathtalkers attempt to cleave him in two. He came down again, bringing his foot down on the first injured scorpion-like Grimm and when his foot connected there was a resounding crack and boom as the ground the Grimm stood on cracked and up-heaved as the creature of darkness was crushed underneath the boys heel. It let out one final dying screech before it too died and began to dissipate into ashes of ebony.

"Three."

Rolling to the side, Jaune flipped backwards in time see the other Deathstalker speed its way toward, but as it did his ears perked up to the sound of something behind him.

"WATCH OUT!" Ruby's shout alarming him of what was coming.

Jaune spun around and flung his hands out, just in time to grasp the wide jaws of the King Taijitu from swallowing him whole. He held it back as it thrashed and writhed against his grip. It's long tongue hissing and fangs dripping with poison glistening as it tried to desperately get to it's target. To Ruby's eyes it looked to her that the boy wasn't even _struggling_ from holding back the beast, and to her disbelief looked like he was having _fun._

However, Jaune did see that the Deathstalker was fast approaching him and deciding to end this quickly he looked back at the great snake and simply smirked.

"Well if you're a King Taijitu, then I am guessing your other half is right... _HERE!_ " with a small grin Jaune pulled back his foot before bringing it down with a strong thrust. The ground beneath him and the Grimm shook before a large crack separated the earth. His foot now through the skull of the white half of the Grimm. With it dead he glanced back at the other half of the beast and simply reared back his fist.

"Here, you want a taste of me? _Then have it!_ " and with a thrust of his fist he punched forward.

 _Shwoom!_

A shockwave erupted in the area making Ruby's hair flutter, but her eyes were stuck on the scene she was seeing. Now, Ruby was now stranger the difference of levels of power in people. She had seen the power her Uncle Qrow wielded with his scythe and even her father Taiyang when he got serious. Hell, she could even remember the faintest memories of her mother sparring with her father at times. Her mother had been fast and strong, almost scarily so which sometimes made her question if she would ever reach that level of power someday.

But this?...This was something else entirely. What she was seeing right now looked nearly identical or as close too a picturesque to the fairy tales her mother told her as a child.

"So... _strong_." Ruby mumbled under her breath as she saw something that defied the realm of impossibility.

The boy's fist had hit the Grimm, but everything below it's head was just _gone._ The entire body just vanished upon impact with the boys fist leaving only the head to fall to the ground with which it soon vanished into a black mist thereafter.

"Two, and then there was one." Jaune spoke as he turned to see the last Deathstalker coming toward him without any sense of what kind of danger it was in. it was a pitiful in a sense that the creature of the Grimm didn't have a soul, otherwise the Deathstalker would have realized what kind of situation it was in. Alas, such a thing was impossible for such creatures of darkness to understand which was why what happened next didn't surprise Ruby as much as it should have.

Or maybe she was just numb to the whole impossibility of what she was seeing?

…

Yeah she was gonna go with that.

"Okay, so you wanna go to? Fine by me." Glaring at creature, Jaune waited for it to come skittering towards him he simply brought up his fist and it just _blurred_ in motion to Ruby's eyes.

And the Deathstalker as a whole just exploded into a black mist, there was no dramatic shockwave or surrounding damage done. The Grimm was simply and completely devastated by the much one-sided massacre it'd been dealt with by the young man.

 _'So strong...so...cool.'_ Ruby couldn't take it anymore, exhaustion took hold of her at this point, and she tilted to the side as her eyes closed.

"Well that takes care of that, now for you-" Jaune turned to say only for his eyes to widen in alarm when he saw the little red reaper passed out on the ground.

"Oh shit! Are you okay! Hey! Hey Red, answer me!"

* * *

Bloodshed.

Chaos.

Death.

That was all that could be described when one looked upon the battlefield that was laid bare before them. Stretching out for a good few miles was nothing more than a barren wasteland of smoldering land and decomposed corpses. Flames licked against the flesh of the hundreds of dead, the sound of popping flesh and smell of burning bodies filled the air with a mix of ash from the destroyed landscape. It was a unique smell, a scent distinctive those veterans of War, but unlike other Wars, this one had been the shortest and it wasn't even a battle of equal measure of both sides.

No, this had been a mass genocide.

A single figure stood upon this battlefield, long gold hair flowing in the breeze. As the smoke cleared up it appeared to be a woman with a tanned complexion and sharp blue eyes that almost appeared to be animalistic in nature with their intensity. Her long golden hair fell past her back and around her shoulders akin to that of a lions mane. Her clothing however consisted of a of chain-mail and leather that covered most of her body in a suit of armor that seemed both protective yet flexible for movement.

Her eyes though seen ever-reaching, looking upon the battlefield with naught more than a simple thought.

 _Pathetic._

Her ears perked up though as she heard footsteps walking toward her with both a natural balance of grace and tension that only those with the highest amount of training and battle experience could ever hope to achieve. She didn't even need to turn around to know who it was as she recognized the scent of one of her own children through the air. Her expression turned pleasant as a smile graced her features.

''Mother, it is done. The last remnants of the surviving forces have been rounded up and brought to heel, we only await your order now." the person spoke, it was another woman. She had the woman's long hair, but it was a lighter shade of blonde that was fell into hime style. Her complexion was a bit fair and her sharp emerald orbs peered at the back of the woman she revered and loved most of all.

"Very good Bianca, now have the rest of them executed. There will be no quarter for any of these wretches. I want them to serve as a reminder for the rest of the world when someone double crosses us." she said without a single note of hesitation in her voice. Bianca seemingly gave a nod in turn though the woman never saw it, she still knew her daughter had agreed regardless.

"I will see to it _personally._ However, what shall I tell grandfather? Or my sisters?" she asked only making the woman take a breath before she looked down at the ground. Her blue eyes turned as cold as the frigid tundra wastelands of Solitas when she saw the burning skull of one of the hundreds of enemies that had _dared_ to scorn her.

Her boot came down swiftly, crushing the skull with little opposition.

"Tell my father to round up the rest of our remaining Clansmen. He is to take them back home to Menagerie along with your sisters, and when he does I want him to pass this along to Ghira Belladonna, no one else is to so much as have this besides you, father and Ghira, do you understand Bianca?" she said before pulling out a rolled parchment with the imprinted blood insignia of their Clan.

Bianca simply gave a sound of acknowledgment as she took the parchment in her hands, but still she stood there for a moment. Hesitation bubbling up in her voice as she addressed her mother once more.

"Before I leave mother, what shall we do about... _Jaune?_ " the words left her lips in a tremble as her mind fell back onto the memory of her beloved baby brother. The little brother that she and her sisters had come to love more than life itself, the singular most spark of light in their lives that had kept their family together in spite of everything.

Her mother for a moment was silent, but the name of her brother had caused her to stop. Her shoulders had shaken for a moment, but beyond that nothing else was discernible from the blond haired conquering woman. For a moment she stood there, gazing out at the battlefield as she bit her bottom lip with a sense of trepidation of her own. Just hearing that name made her lose her sense of control as it was the name of the child she had loved so much that she done all this for.

Her eyes narrowed in a fury that burned hotter than the deepest pits of hell as she remembered all that happened to her son. She could still remember the day news had come to her about what happened between her son and that... _husband_ of hers. Jaune had apparently called to let them know of the results for entering Signal Academy in Patch, but in anguish he had failed.

But his father hadn't taken kindly to his failure, and behind her back no less, _the spineless little coward that he was,_ had gone and did the one thing that had made her reach her breaking point. The man had all, but disowned her son of his family and inheritable rights as an Arc. Stripping him of all that he was and his existence in Remnant, leaving him cold, alone, and abandoned in Patch.

It was for that alone, Joan Arc, mother to her seven daughters and firstborn son Jaune Arc, had waged a 6 month civil war with the rest of the Arc Clan. When news had spread about what happened, the Arc Clan had become split with one side favoring the disowning of the so called "Blighted Failure" while the other half simply wanted Jaune to come back home, to come back to his family where he belonged the most.

The day Joan heard about what happened had been the day she had killed her husband in a fit of pure rage. Ripping out his spine and hanging his body out to dry so that the crows could feast on what was left of him after she had her fill. However, that hadn't been enough, people that still sided with the man waged war with her over the matter and she pushed back.

 _Violently._

A twitch of motion behind her was the only symbol of her annoyance as her brow creased in fleeting annoyance.

 _'They wanted to spurn my son and take what wasn't theirs. Ungrateful fools the lot of them, the only reason they had what they did was because of father and me. My son, my beautiful Jaune is the legacy of the Arc Clan, and no one else **will ever** have right to that claim.'_

In response, Joan and her father, Jaune and her daughters grandfather, Julius Arc had taken to ushering in a War Campaign within the southern lands of Anima. While the Arc Clan was very well known for it's warriors and talented young Huntsmen and Huntresses, the common Arc people stood no chance against the direct royal family themselves. They had pooled their resources and issued a war front that would decimate every single soul that had ever crossed the family for their arrogance and impudence for standing against her and also for scorning and damning her only son.

And what she saw before her was the result.

Every man and woman that had sided with her former husband was now dead at her feet, _as they should be_ , and the children of the fallen were taken in to be re-educated about everything their parents tried to pass on to them. Joan wanted to make sure the next generation was cleansed of their parents taint, and if some didn't take to the teachings.

Then she would have them killed.

 _No one will ever threaten her son again!_

"Mother...?"

Pulling herself back from her thoughts she had left her oldest daughter, Bianca, waiting for an answer long enough. She knew how much Bianca, much like her sisters, loved their brother and it was only fair that she shared her plans with them. Turning to her Joan simply gave a heartwarming smile as her gold _lion_ tail came up around her waist, acting like makeshift belt.

"Worry no longer my daughter, for I will personally be going to retrieve Jaune. He has been left alone in this cruel world long enough, and it's time he comes back home, back to his family."

 _'And back into my arms once again.'_

Upon hearing this Bianca was uplifted at the news. Her smile was positively beaming as she went up and hugged her mother.

"Thank you, and bring him home safe, mom."

Joan's smile deepened as she wrapped her arms around her daughter. Soothing her worries for what would be happening from now on, and the nerves that were shaking within her and her daughter, for they both knew of one thing. Because, while they wanted their son/brother back...

Who was to say he wanted to come back home after what a part of his family had done to him?

"Don't worry Bianca, I'll bring him back. You just worry about your sisters for now, and make sure father gets that note into Ghira's hands, okay?" she received a nod, but then she laid her a small kiss on her daughters forehead.

''I love you my daughter, now go, tend to the wounded and begin making haste to the docks. No doubt the Mistral military are already on their way here." she said making Bianca nod in return. Pulling away blue stared into emerald before Joan's daughter finally backed away before turning around. Watching her dash off, Joan turned her gaze to the west, fishing something out of her pocket she pulled out a small crystallized orb with a golden sphere inside which had a singular arrow pointing directly to the west.

Satisfied with that, Joan didn't even take a second glance at the slaughter around her before she vanished in a gold blur. As she dashed across the planes of her former home, Joan only had one thought in her mind as she ran to the west, idea's already in mind to take a small boat of her own from a another docking harbor.

 _'Jaune, my sweet baby boy...don't worry for much longer, mama's coming.'_

Because Joan Arc, New Clan Head of the Arc Clan, and Lioness of Menagerie was coming for her son.

And not even that damned Grimm half-breed bitch Salem would stop her.

* * *

 **And that ends this chapters, so tell me what you thought in a review or leave your theories and suggestions in a review as well. This will probably be the last update I can make before next year so let this stew for awhile okay?**

 **Soooo anyone wanna say "What a twist!"**

 **Anyone? No? Okay. T.T**

 **Now time for me to get some sleep got work tomorrow, but I'll work some more on the next chapter when I can, but for now you guys have a wonderful New Years Eve and let's hope and pray 2017 is a better year!**

 **Ja'ne!**


	4. Chapter 4

**You are all drowning me in support for this story. It's taken off much more than I thought it would, but I'm happy about it all the same.**

 **Now, for some reviewers questions and suggestions regarding the last chapter and the future of this fic. Some have asked why doesn't Jaune show traits of a faunus or why hasn't he talked about it? Do not fret, that will be answered in this chapter so don't worry about that.**

 **Secondly, someone was concerned that Jaune was a bit too OP and is worried about if he will have a challenge in the future. For that I say this, when I was making this idea and the concepts behind it I also had built up an villanous force of equal or more so fortitude that can threaten him in the future, but for who that is? I will not say.**

 **With those questions out of the way.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **EDIT: The fanfiction site is on the fritz again!**

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" _Blake, you've always been an inquisitive child. Ever since the moment you picked up your first book and read your first fairy tale. It's something that has always defined you. That, your hunger for knowledge, and love for fiction. That is why your father and I have seen fit you give you this for your 12th birthday. You've always been curious about it, haven't you? The Legend of the Four Sacred Beasts." **~Kali Belladonna**_

 **Jaune Arc: Power Redefined**

 _Volume 1: The Breaking of Limits_

 _Chapter 4: A Clash of Revelations Part 1_

What could describe the man, the faunus, that was Ghira Belladonna?

For one, the man was absolutely tall and with a physique that could only be described as herculean. He had black hair with a beard that covered much of his lower face besides the upper part of his lip. His yellow eyes were simply intimidating no matter the situation he was in. He wore a open dark violet coat which had a white fur trim which exposed his hairy chest. Down below he wore beige pants with a matching sash that wrapped itself around his waist and is secured with a large, silver metal buckle. On his left shoulder is a silver spaulder, which through a pair of curved strips across the chest attaches as a clasp to the opposite side of his coat. Lastly, he wore black leather boots which at the end had white tips that were in a shape of paws with claws.

One look at the man by any regular day citizen outside of Menagerie would have people averting their gaze so they simply wouldn't be looked at by the intimidating man. Ghira simply gave off the presence of a man with purpose and a goal to fulfill, and nothing would stop him from doing it. The Schnee Dust Company feared him, the Kingdoms were wary of his power, and the faunus rightfully adored him for all his efforts to bring a sense of unity and peace to the faunus.

Ghira Belladonna was also not a man that could be surprised or taken off guard easily. In fact, one could say it was almost impossible to do due to the mans history in Remnant for being who he was. Having been the once High-Leader of the White Fang organization and now Chieftain of Menagerie had led him to build up a very strong persona of a man that could take anything the world could throw at him and take it with little more than a passing annoyance. Taking into consideration his impeccable skill as a warrior had made him able to take any surprise thrown at him with barely any effort on his part.

It didn't need to be said Ghira could very well take on anything that set before him if it was to protect Menagerie, the faunus that lived on this continent, and his family.

Which was why, for those that were at the docks of Menagerie, would be bewildered to see there fearless, indomitable leader standing there with an expression that only showed pure unadulterated shock and surprise. Whilst his wife stood beside him trying to make sense at what they were seeing right now, but really who could blame them?

After all, what could you really do when you see about 5 cruiser ships pull in to dock with a rough estimate of twelve-hundred war ravaged refugees pouring in from the ships. The refugees in question all being similar in appearance with various shades of blonde hair and blue or green eyes. Some would question if they were humans, but that would be wrong once people started taking a looking at their appearance for a second time.

Longer than average nails, wild blonde hair, and the most important of all being the lion tails waving behind them.

There was no mistaking who these people were once they saw these traits. It was a clan much like the Belladonna, and were held with just as much esteem that one could only look to them as a form of royalty among the faunus species for who they were. Because while the Belladonna's ruled with a means to protect all faunus, this family was different, but held the same belief.

The _Arcs_.

The Arc Clan spanned multiple generations that went as far back as ancient scriptures could tell. They were a pioneering warrior family that was always pushing, always fighting for an equality of faunus that few could argue. Such was their skill in battle, such was their ferocity over the ages that even the Kingdoms started looking to them for qualified huntsmen and huntresses to fight back the Grimm. Such was their success that the Arcs had established a major foothold in the world that spanned multiple networks both in the Kingdoms and the countries themselves.

Not even the Schnee Dust Company or the Atlas Military would antagonize them and that was saying something.

Last Ghira heard through his old contacts in the White Fang, he heard his wayward organization had reached out to the Clan for whatever means, but for one reason another was vehemently denied, and he could understand that once you saw the violent tendencies the organization was taking after Ghira left them.

But now, seeing the Arcs in such a form led to Ghira questioning what could have happened to them. There was no arrogance when one said that the Arcs were powerful because that was just a statement of fact. The Arcs have proven time and time again that they were able to produce legendary warriors and heroes throughout history, them being faunus meant very little due to their martial prowess on the battlefield.

So, this begged to question...

 _'What in the name of Bagheera happened to them?'_

His eyes watched them as his wife Kali, bless her soul, began recovery efforts with their own doctors. It didn't even need to be said when he met Kali's gaze, an unspoken decision was made unanimously between the two. Kali was the one who could tend to the wounded of their allies, closest friends in all, but blood while he went about finding out what happened to his families closest ally.

And he didn't need to wait long as his eyes caught on to two people coming toward him and when his gaze fell on them his eyes widened.

"Julius? Is that you? By the spirits you haven't aged a day have you!?" he said as walked toward the first person, an older man that was very much his senior in many ways.

The old man was Julius Arc, and he didn't look anywhere to be as old as people knew him to be. He stood a good 6,6 feet tall and while not as muscular as Ghira he still had a strong and healthy physique of a man that could fight. His dark blonde hair that had streaks of gray was tied up in a small pony-tail and a beard that covered most of his lower face. His garments were however an eyebrow-raiser as he was wearing what could only be described as a armor fit for a war. He wore a mix of leather and chain-mail with silver plated spaulders.

Julius gave a weary grin, but the mans dark blue eyes seemed tired, exhausted even, and that only sent alarm bells ringing in Ghira's head.

"I may look it, but I sure as Oum don't feel like it, _at least not anymore._ " he muttered under his breath, but Ghira's acute hearing heard it nonetheless and he frowned at his choice of words. Taking a second look at the man he could see flecks of dried up blood, dents, scratches, and tears in his armor. And...was that a new scar over his left eye?

 _Ghira was getting a really bad feeling now._

"Lord Belladonna, it is nice to see you again, but as you can see we are in a rather precarious situation." the voice of the other spoke and he turned his gaze to address the other and he felt his breathe hitch in his throat when he saw her.

 _She looks so much like her mother now._

A soft smile crossed his face as spoke to the woman before him. "I can see that, but my how you surprise me Bianca, the last time I saw you, you barely reached my knee." he said and emphasized his point by showing how small she was. Bianca in turn simply allowed a small smile in return for seeing the man. The last time she had seen him was when she was only 4 year's old and Olivia was born. She was 21 now, and the time from there on was a long time since she'd seen the man she viewed as an Uncle.

"Indeed, but I apologize if I come off as a bit rude, but we have something very important to discuss between you, grandfather, and I. It is best if we do so in a more...private setting, if you will?" she asked and Ghira's pleasant expression instantly became serious before he turned to address his wife.

"Kali, leave the recovery efforts to the medical officials. It would appear we have much catching up to do with our old friends." he said to which Kali simply look at him and then Julius and Bianca. Her yellow eyes looked at all three of them before giving a firm nod.

"Very well, let us find out what has happened."

Bianca smiled in turn before speaking. "Thank you, and by the way may I bring my sisters to your household so they can recover? They've been through a lot." she asked getting a raised eyebrow from Ghira before Kali simply smiled at her.

"That will be no problem dear, your family has and will always be welcome with us. Now go get them and come along, I imagine there is a lot for us to discuss, hm?" she said with a smile that only made Julios relax and Bianca to smile in return.

"Thank you Aunt Kali."

* * *

"So..." Ghira started off the discussion as he and Kali sat on end of the table with Bianca and Julius on the other. His hands intertwined as he eyed the two with curiosity. "Where would you like to start? Like, why has some of your clan come to Menagerie? Why do some if not all of you look wounded? For that matter where is Joan or Micheal? I would have figured if it was very severe either one would have come instead?" he asked, firing off questions in the order that they were in his head.

His eyes picked up the subtle flinch and a flash of rage in Bianca's eyes when he said Micheal, but that confused and concerned him. The man was her father so why was she angry at the mention of him? Sure, the man was bit of hard ass and a total authoritarian, but surely he wasn't all that bad. However, when he saw the stone faced look from Julius made him go silent, specially when the man said only one thing that sent him and Kali back in shock.

"We just finished a six month War Campaign against our own Clansmen Ghira. What you've seen here, the Arcs that have arrived are all that is left of us. Over half of them have been slaughtered by our own hand." his words were bblunt, to the point and held little emotion them besides a cold disregard for what happened. He took it in stride though when Kalis eyes widened in shock, covering her mouth in horror, but Ghira's eyes only widened for a moment.

Then they narrowed into slits.

 **BANG!**

The mahogany table between was reduced to splinters after Ghira slammed his fist down. His aura flashed for only a moment as his control slipped and with it the room they were in shook from the brief second release of his power. However, to all those in the room they could see in his yellow eyes, smoldering just beneath that exterior was a power ready to be unleashed unto them if they spoke wrongly.

" _Explain."_ that was all he said, and he needed a damn good reason as to why the Arcs would do this themselves.

 _Now._

Julius kept his stare dead even with Ghira though, and fished out a rolled up parchment before tossing it to Ghira who caught it without breaking the stare.

" _That_ shall explain everything. However, be warned for what you are about to read is strictly confidential to your eyes only, and once it has been read the letter is to be destroyed." he said making Ghira perk an eyebrow whilst Kali looked to him and the paper in hand. For them to issue this kind of secrecy meant something truly serious had taken place, and only those trust worthy within the inner circles would be made known of what was happening.

"Very well, let's see what this is all about." he said before breaking the seal on the paper and as he unraveled it he read it to himself without so much as a word.

 _Dear Ghira,_

 _My friend it has been far too long since we last talked face to face. The years have been for the most joyous if not a bit lonesome. Ever since my family diverged from the faction and moved over to Mistral has made our lives a bit less livelier than usual. It is only the blessings of my children that I've yet to pull out my hair from all the mediocrity I've had to deal with concerning Clan matters, officials from Mistral barging on our door, the White Fangs zealous attacks on human cities and settlements, and even having to deal with Micheal and his damned actions._

 _But I'm rambling as usual, anyway if you have received this letter than you have an inkling as to what has happened, but I'll clear it up now. It may come as a surprise to you that I now have seven daughters, but what you, nor does most people realize, is that...I have a son._

At this Ghira's eyes slowly widened at that revelation. Joan had a son? When?!

 _You don't know him. His existence was kept strictly a secret among the Clan out of fear of what may have happened should it be known that I had a son. You know of my bloodline, the direct Arc bloodline, and the potential it wields better than most. It is why his existence was kept a secret, to keep him safe if nothing else. His name is Jaune, Jaune Arc, he should be turning 14 next month, now that I think about it he should be around little Blake's age now that I recall._

At the emotion of his daughter Ghira frowned, his daughter was only 13 herself, but she was following in his footsteps as she became an advocate for faunus equality. However, lately she'd been showing signs of joining the White Fang, unknowing of there more violent tendencies as of late, but she was entering that age of rebellious naivety. It was a small blessing that he'd been able to keep her here, and away from the ark truth of what the White Fang had become.

 _Anyway, Jaune has had a tough time training how to be a huntsmen for a long time now. The official records state that he was born with a crippling defect that keeps his aura locked away. All records indicate he was born with no natural talent or skill that any Arc would be born with. For all intents and purposes, Jaune was just not born to be a huntsmen like the rest of the clan._

Now that's surprising, every Arc born was always born with at least an inkling of talent for battle. So, for the son of Joan of all people to not be born with any talent was just...bizarre.

 _But you should have seen him Ghira, Jaune was incredibly dedicated. He trained and trained and trained so much to the point not even Bianca or I could keep up with his physical training regime. If nothing else, he has a lot of stamina to utilize. However, Micheals expectations of Jaune only got worse, and when Jaune left to apply to Signal to become a Huntsman I feared the worst. I fear the stress finally got to him, and he went off on his own to try and prove himself. And you know what happened? Jaune did fail, and while I to this day just want tell him everything is okay, Micheal instead got to the phone first, and you know what he did to Jaune? My baby boy?_

Oh he could feel the chills running down his spine now. He did not like where this was going, _not a single bit._

 _He tore up my 13 year old child Ghira, his own son nonetheless! Micheal by all intents and purposes disowned Jaune from the Clan Ghira. He stripped him of all inheritable rights he had and ripped his very existence as to who he was away. He left my boy, my Jaune alone in Patch with only the cold bitterness of what Micheal had done to him to keep him company. In the past I always tolerated Micheal for his actions, but if he ever crossed the line with my children I always set him straight, he may have become Clan head through a loophole of succession, but I was not about to let him destroy my children._

 _But that's exactly what he did to Jaune. The nerve he had to do this all behind my back! However, when I found out what he did...I got angry Ghira. I got so angry, so furious that I killed Micheal in battle._ _ **I tore him apart**_ _, I ignored his screams, his pleas for mercy for he did not heed the cries of my child. He hurt my boy Ghira, and for that I ripped his limbs off and tore out his spinal cord before hanging his carcass out for the buzzards. His death served as a sign of what was to come for those that would double-cross me or my children._

At that bit of information, Ghira leaned back for a moment. He ignored the stares of everyone as he closed his eyes for a moment. He had known Micheal for nowhere near as long as he'd known Joan, but from his initial evaluation, the man was a strict authoritarian that didn't expect anything less than the best. If you went below his expectations than you were simply scrapped and thrown away.

On the other hand, _he knew Joan_. He'd known her since they were kids. He knew how protective she was of her family, and for Micheal to have done what he did to Jaune, and behind her back no less was all Joan needed to retaliate. Honestly, he couldn't find it in himself to feel disgusted at what Joan did. It was simply pure and true retribution of the most raw kind, especially among their species. It was the same case with him, if the White Fang ever caused the hurt, or Oum forbid, the death of his little Blake, he would personally tear them all apart with his own hands.

So yes, he could understand Joan's anger to an extent as he had not felt the scorn of losing his child, and hopefully he never would.

He leaned forward again and kept reading in spite of the looks he was receiving.

 _After that though there was a dissent among the ranks of the Clan. Once news spread of Jaune being disowned the Clan became divided. One half sided with Micheal for disowning him, but the other half, my half, simply wanted Jaune to come back home, where he belongs. It was because of that divide in the Clan that I acted when they pushed me on the matter._

 _I killed them Ghira, father and I pooled our resources, and together with Bianca and our other clansmen slaughtered them all for their actions against my family. They may have been my kinsman, but they were not my direct kin, and were simply leeches, feeding off the success of my ancestors. The War was a closed-in battle, no outside intervention was needed for a War between Beasts, as you may imagine._

And he did. It was a tradition that went back before the dawn of man. When faunus were still young they followed strict rules and laws set before them by their progenitors. The War of Beasts, was one such rule that a battle between two clans or with one clan was to not be interfered by an outside party. To do so...was just bad for everyone involved.

 _'For things to have gotten to bad as to enact such an old law.'_ Ghira frowned, but remained silent as he kept reading.

 _In the end we won, but not without a cost. My people are injured, our home is destroyed, and there is less than half of us left. That is why I sent them back to Menagerie with my daughters and father. I know that my clan has always had a home in Menagerie despite our split years ago. They need a safe haven to avoid the Mistral official dust-ups and other organizations that would like nothing more than to pick us apart after whats happened. That why I sent them to you because I know you can protect them._

How incredibly selfish of her, but Ghira couldn't argue with her words. Despite the Arcs splintering from the faction of the faunus union. It was out of pioneering the equality and rights of faunus by showing the world how strong and tenacious faunus could be. The Arcs left to just show the world how just one clan of faunus could become force to be reckoned with. And it was become of them that faunus around the world weren't being as treated as they were in the past. It was a start, and for that alone Ghira couldn't, but be grateful to his families oldest and closest ally.

 _As for me? Well, that's where this part of the letter stays between you an me. You see, instead of coming back with the family, I went to go find my son. Not only because he must feel like we've abandoned him after no communication for these six months, but also because...4 months ago...the Sequester Seal I put on him at birth was been broken._

 _That_ threw Ghira for a loop. His eyes widened and his mouth parted way as he reread that particular passage just to make sure he hadn't it wrong. Joan put the Sequester seal on her son? Why? For what damned reason was there to use such an archaic and downright atrocious seal on her own son?

 _The Sequester Seal_ was a technique passed down between the clans from the time of their Progenitors. It was a technique that utilized true magic to punish traitors of the clans. It sealed away a persons power, skill, talent, and faunus traits from the world in what should be an unbreakable seal. Designed by the Moon Rabbit Goddess herself, Kaguya, created the seal as a means to punish the wicked and unfaithful traitors to the clans. In nearly every aspect, the seal locked away a persons entire being behind a wall that just couldn't be breached by any sort of means. It was no wonder the boy showed no signs of natural talent or skill to be a warrior, it was all sealed away when he was born!

Why in the name of Bagheera had Joan used such a seal on her own son?!

 _You must be asking yourself why I did this. The answer fairly simple, but complex. However you will come to understood why. You see what has happened to the Clan all connects to Jaune because you see, there was difficulties at Jaunes birth. A secret that I've kept hidden between me and father. No one else knows this, and you are the only other person in all the world to know. You see, when Jaune was born he...he was born with the traits that my clan has revered since the time of our own progenitor. Ghira...my son...he was born with white lion faunus traits, and the power that came with it._

 _Ghira...my son...he's been chosen...the spirits have spoken, and my Jaune was their answer, and you know exactly what that means._

He did.

He knew all too well what that meant.

 _Oh by the Spirits..._

Ghira could feel his shoulders trembling at this bit of news. His eyes dilated into small dots as tried to make sense of what Joan had written. Some part of him tried to deny the claim Joan had made, Oum knew he tried, but the more logical part of him knew the truth. Joan never lied, Arcs in general were a rather blunt people that only spoke the truth no matter how much it may hurt. And Joan herself was one that never spoke a lie, and she definitely wouldn't for something a severe as this.

He felt a placating hand touch his shoulder and he glanced to his wife to see her expression of worry, but he could only smile at her wordlessly before he kept reading.

 _That is why I used the seal, in act of desperation, I sealed away everything that my son was to protect him from those that would kill him without a shred of mercy if they found out who he was. It is my fault my son ended up the way he did, I take full blame for that, but I had to do it, his safety is my number one priority. However, after he was disowned by Micheal I had contacts keep track of him, guardians of whom I chose from personal relation to watch over him. Reports came in regularly, and one of which is what terrifies me._

 _Raven Branwen, one of my closest friends from our Beacon days, has been keeping tabs on Jaune with her brother Qrow. And the one report she sent me 4 months ago is what has terrified me. In an act of desperation to become stronger, Jaune consumed dust and it nearly killed him Ghira. It was only thanks to Raven and my sons tenacity that he survived the ordeal, but the effect of doing that is what terrifies me even more. The consumption of the dust combined with Jaune being so close to deaths door put him through an experience that somehow or someway broke the seal placed on him._

 _And now...now I can feel it through my being. Jaune is getting stronger, but he knows nothing of what's really happening to him. My father felt it as well when it happened, we could feel the stirring in my son, and it's only solidified my fears._

 _Ghira, the **White Lion** has come back, it has awakened within Jaune. You know what that means, and it is for that reason I've got to find my son. I need to find him, and bring him back to Menagerie so we can get him ready for what is too assuredly come. I urge you to do the same, you must ready your forces, and get little Blake ready as well, because if the White Lion has awakened than so too will the others._

 _Take caution, and be strong brother._

After reading it a few more times to make sure he had read it all correctly, Ghira slowly took the paper and held it over a lit candle and let it light aflame. He ignored the looks he received from his wife, Julius and Bianca as he stared at the letter that slowly turned to ash. And as the fire reflected in his eyes, Ghira could only think about what had been revealed to him.

 _'So it would seem the time has come. If the White Lion has truly awakened within Joan's boy than it is only a matter of time for the three others to awaken as well. It is only natural that they would awaken, to follow their leader and come back in a time where darkness looms over us all.'_ Ghira's thoughts lingered as he watched the letter burn completely until it was nothing more than a pile of ash.

"...Dear? Is something wrong? What did Joan tell you?" Kali, the love of his life, oh he just wanted to hold her right now just so he could ease the fears within him. He looked to her with a somber expression before he glanced to Bianca who sat up a bit more straight from his look before his gaze fell fully on Julius who only took in his gaze with a well hidden acknowledgement.

He let out a shaky breath before he spoke, words parted from his lips that would forever change the future forever.

"Kali, send word to all our forces in Menagerie, they are to step up the training of this generation, and for themselves. We will also need a messenger bird sent to the Wukong and Scarlatina clans as well. Also, we are to retrieve Blake, events have transpired in such a way that her life been put in terrible danger." he said without so much as a hint to what he was feeling on the inside. He felt his wife shift and he glanced at her to see the worry in her eyes, her eyes filled with questions that just couldn't be answered right now.

" _Please Kali."_

His plea only made the woman let out a small sigh before she gave a nod. People may start asking questions, and Blake may start to hate them for taking her away from the White Fang, but if it was this serious than all bets were off. Her life was more important to them than anything else.

"Of course love, I'll be back shortly." she said before she stood up and took her leave. As she left and when the door closed behind her Ghira stared back at Julius and said only a few words that made the older man close his eyes in anguish and shock from of Bianca.

"So, it would appear that the Lord has awakened at last within your grandson Julius. _Maahes_ stirs within him, and now...he must bear the responsibility that comes with it." he said with a hint of sorrow in his voice as well.

Because after all, who could bear the burden of being the successor to the Lord of the Faunus? To shoulder the responsibility of protecting the world from a darkness that's lasted for as long as time itself?

The boy, Jaune, was going to be knee-deep in a burden that would test his mettle, his willpower, his tenacity, and his very soul. But Ghira had faith, for if the boy was chosen to bear the mark of their Lord. Than he must already be a person of incredibly strong will. Jaune was going to need it though, he would need all his willpower to be ready for what was to come.

Because now...he was the successor to their Lord, their savior, and protector that shielded them from the darkness long ago.

 _Maahes, The White Lion, King of the Faunus._

* * *

This was _so_ not happening!

Jaune Arc sat there in his run down shitty apartment with his legs crossed and ass on the chair. Anxiety ran throughout his body with the ferocity of a hurricane, his eyes were small dots at this point as he rocked back and forth. He was nervous, he was scared, he was jittery and above all else he was beating himself up for his inadequate social skills.

The first time he had a cute girl in his bedroom, and she was unconscious and recovering from a traumatic experience that would surely have ended with her death had he not intervened.

Good one Jaune, you're such a lady killer.

….

The pun was not lost on him, and it made him feel all the worse for it.

"At least my aura can do some good without destroying everything." he said as he looked to his hand which ignited in it's usual white fiery flame before his eyes moved to his bed. His azure orbs softened as he looked at the young girl occupying his bed right now. Tucked into his bed sheets, and his hoodie acting as a pillow for her head, was the young little reaper from the woods. He could that she was recovering well due to her sleeping habit of sleeping like a content puppy.

However, he moved his hand and placed it atop her forehead, and gently as he was able, sent his aura into his hand. A surprising thing he learned about his aura was that while it could destroy so much if let loose, it also _healed_ others if he put it to practice with that mindset. It was how he had been able to heal most o the girls injuries and calm her body down from the adrenaline of facing certain death.

It was a couple of hours since the incident, and the sun was just starting to break over the horizon signaling the morn of tomorrow. He'd taken her with him when he had no other place to take her too. Besides, her injuries and state of health became his priority which had been why he was sitting at her bedside and making sure she was okay throughout the few hours. He could deal with sacrificing his training if it meant helping the girl, especially after what she experienced.

 _'Come to think of it I should have been afraid of the Grimm, but to save her I cast aside everything. Is that what it means to be a Hero? To fight against all odds and your own fears for the safety of others?'_ he thought about that. When he saw the girl being attacked by the Grimm he hadn't hesitated to protect her simply because it was the right thing to do, it was something a _Hero_ would have done, and he had done so without so much as a complaint.

"It was almost...natural when I was fighting them. I...I even enjoyed it a little bit. Oum tell me I am not turning into a battle junkie." he sighed into his hands at that. That was Rose Arc, his fraternal twin sister's niche. She loved a good fight and would always go out seeking fights whenever she could. He didn't wanna be like his sister in that regard, he simply wanted to protect people, and be the hero he dreamed of becoming.

" _Mmpph."_

His ears perked up at the sound as he looked up to see the girl starting to stir. He took in a breath to calm himself as the girls eyes twitched and began to creak open revealing her beautiful silver eyes to the world once more. The way she breathed, her eyes slowly blinking away the fuzziness that accompanied one who just woke up from a long overdue sleep. Her body shifted, and soon enough her mouth spoke words that Jaune was dreading to answer.

"W-where...am I?" her question voiced out, and Jaune let out a breathe which caused her to look his way.

"You're...in my apartment right now. I'm not sure how much you remember, but you...kinda passed out on me after the whole Grimm attacking you thing." he said to which the girl blinked a couple of times as she tried to remember what had happened, but then memories of last night started to come back to her. Her eyes started to widen as she looked at Jaune once more with a look in her silver eyes that just made him feel incredibly uneasy.

 _H-hey, what's with that look for?_

Is what he wanted to say, but instead he decided to introduce himself, being courtesy never hurt anyone. "Anyway, the names Jaune, Jaune Arc." or was it? He really didn't know if he could go around saying his last name anymore.

The girl on the other hand just kept staring at him. "My names Ruby...Ruby Rose..."

….

 _Okayyyyyy~_

The silence was starting to get a bit awkward as the girl kept staring at him as if he was the most interesting thing in the world. Seriously, was there something on his face? Oh Oum was there a booger hanging from his nose? The humiliation!

" _Strong..."_

But then the girl suddenly spoke, her face breaking out into a smile that only got bigger as she crawled over to him. Ripping away the blankets as she came toward him, and it only got worse when she leaned dangerously close to his face. Hey...hey now! Personal space!

"You...you're strong, really really _really_ strong!" the energy was coming back into her voice as she literally crawled into Jaune's lap and was now just a breath away from his face. Gods, Oum above, what was with this girl?! He ignored the fact she was now in his lap as he scratched the back of his head as he tried to make sense of what the girl was saying. Strong? Yeah he knew that, but what was her fascination about it?

"Well yeah I'm strong, but what does th-WOAH!" he let out a shout as Ruby simply tackled him to the ground, bringing the chair down with them. He hit the floor, but his arms wrapped around the girl so she at least wouldn't be hurt, but feel her on top of him made him open his eyes only to her silver orbs staring back at him with an intensity that was both a bit scary and adorable in it's own way.

"Jaune...Train me."

….

What?

…..

WHAAAATTT?!

His intelligent reply was all, but grand in the face of his 11 year old girl.

"...Huh?"

Her hands, so small in comparison to his own, gripped the fabric of his clothing and leaned down so their noses were touching at this point. At this point Jaune didn't think the girl realize what she was doing or of the position they were in at the moment because he knew if she did that her face would have exploded in embarrassment because his sure as hell was!

"I want to be strong! Like you! Please Jaune, no _master! Master please make me strong like you!Train me until I break!"_

At that moment Jaune just didn't know what was wrong with the world. He was confused, bewildered, perplexed in such a manner that he couldn't even speak a word.

It was also at that moment the world decided to fuck with him even more.

Because his apartment door just _exploded_.

" _RUUUUUBBYYYY! WHERE YA AT LITTLE SIS!"_

"...You know that's a bit rude, Yang?"

He heard a humph of frustration from a voice that was oddly familiar, but he couldn't quite figure it out.

"Puh-lease Uncle Qrow, Ruby's been missing all night and only now do we got a tip that she may be here. I don't care if it's rude at this point." a younger girl spoke, but Jaune froze as they stepped into his apartment, and he felt Ruby freeze up as well. Slowly he turned his head to see them walking in and his face froze in terror once he saw them.

He saw an older man with graying black spiky hair, the beginnings of a stubble, and a pale white complexion step inside. His red eyes scanned the room as his red tattered slow billowed behind him. The man wore a gray dress shirt with a long coat-tail, black dress pants and black dress shoes.

But then the other one came in, it was a girl that may have been around his age, and once his eyes fully adjusted to her he felt his very soul shrivel up into a prune.

The girl was a budding beauty for her age. Her long bright yellow hair fell to her mid-back while a cow-lick was present at the top of her head. Her lilac eyes were smoldering with impatience and worry as she literally tore apart his apartment looking for Ruby. She had the same complexion as the older man, but she came off as a bit more tanned than him. Unlike the older man as well, she wore an orange tank top with a beige coat over her arms. Down below she wore blue jeans and white tennis shoes.

All in all she was pretty cute, but Jaune knew her. He recognized her all too well. It was the same girl he was put up against at the Entrance Exams to Signal. The very same girl who utterly thrashed him.

And she just called Ruby her little sister.

…..

 _No..._

 _Nooo..._

 _Oh noooooooo..._

Jaune prayed, he prayed for all he had that the two didn't find him and Ruby in the position they were in. Realizing these two were her family than if they found her with him, a boy than...

He would die. It was a simple fact of life.

It was at that exact moment however that Jaune lost himself in his panic and pulled Ruby closer causing her let out the smallest squeak,. It was almost akin to a mouse, and it would have been incredibly cute...

If not for the fact the two intruders heard it and their eyes found him and Ruby on the floor. The girl on top of him, practically straddling him and his arms around her body.

He saw Ruby practically flushing like a cherry once she realized the position she was in, Qrow's eyes only widened before a smirk played across his features and Yang...

Yang...

Her lilac eyes flashed a burning crimson that would have made the devil himself turn tail and run.

….

Jaune could feel his soul slipping away from his body because he knew at that moment.

He was figuratively, metaphorically, and quite literally screwed.

So he could only say one thing that was on his mind at that moment.

"How ya doing Spitfire, nice seeing ya again!"

What happened next could only be described as the wrath of an older sister was unleashed unto the world in the form of a rage-filled roar that would have made the Grimm bury their heads into the sand.

" _ **DIE!"**_

* * *

 **Thus ends this chapter, hope you all enjoyed it and leave me any and all questions, theories, and comments in a review.**

 **Next chapter will be a bit difficult to get out since next semester starts next monday so I might be able to squeeze out another chapter before school starts up again. However, until then I'll be working so let me know what you all think about the chapter, and until then, ya'll have a good one!**

 **Here's a little Omake in regards to certain people wanting to see a certain scene between Jaune's mother, Joan.**

* * *

 **Omake: A Mother's Wrath**

Micheal Arc wasn't a man that was easily scared. He was born and raised in the Arc Clan as one of it's finest warriors to date. His strength was known worldwide, and many feared him for the simple fact that he could put most elite huntsmen to shame with his skill in battle. It was simply a matter of fact that Micheal was just a warrior with few equals. Inheriting the position of Clan Head through a loophole of succession had made him both crafty, and downright cutthroat when need be.

Which was why he couldn't be scared easily.

He had faced an army of Grimm before. Faced down the wrath of Julius Arc for impregnating his daughter, and he still had the scars to prove what happened from that. There was very little in this world he feared, and even more so was scared of to outright run away from.

So, why was it that as he sat in his office at the Arc Clan compound, thinking over all that happened after he disowned his son Jaune that he felt a terrible amount of dread form in the pit of his stomach? He made sure of what he did never reached the ears of most people and tried to keep it secret. If to just keep it a secret from the rest of his family. He just couldn't place it, but his unease all started when his favorite coffee mug cracked and spilled scorching hot coffee into his lap. Then after that the portrait of him hanging behind him cracked and fell to the floor where it broke to pieces.

After that though the incidents stopped, and for a moment Micheal thought it was just a simple coincidence.

That was until he heard it...

" _ **MIIIIICCCHHEEAAAALLLLL!"**_

It happened far too fast. The roar that was akin to a Grimm Swarm blasted throughout the Compound and with it the release of ones aura that was so intense, so strong it was causing the very infrastructure to break apart. The ground beneath them quaked as whatever was coming toward him only increased in anger. Micheal swallowed a lump in his throat once his mind realized who it was.

It was one person he feared most in this world.

His wife...

The door to his study blasted apart, and what he saw made his testicles shrivel up in anguish and his spine let out a cry for what was to come.

Joan stood there, her blond hair bristling like that of an animal ready to attack it's prey. Her usual blue eyes were ignited in a fury that made him want to jump out the window and run with all he could. Her hands were now in the form of claws and her teeth were bared into fangs that would easily tear out his throat.

" _Hello dear husband, I believe we have something to discuss about my son, Jaune, hm?"_

… _._

"Fuck"

Joan only grinned.

It was all _fangs._

The screams that followed would not only be the ignition to what would go down in history as the Arc Civil War, but it was also a clear reminder of what happens when you anger the woman known as Joan Arc.

When you do.

You die.

Simple as that.


	5. Chapter 5

**First off, I am sorry for the delay, but 2017 has just been one huge kick in the balls for me since the first day of January. Come to find out my grandfather has cancer that's spread from his liver and lungs. My mom was just diagnosed with a cancer in her leg, and now my great aunt has died from a stroke. Coupled with all that and my school work and job has left me a pretty damned depressed.**

 **But that's life, right? When you feel like you're right there, in the zone, life comes in to kick you in-between the legs and demean you until you feel like absolute shit.**

 **However, I'm not gonna let it put me down, so I want to say a big thank you to everyone that's supported the story so far. You've no idea how much it means to me, 6 years now and the feeling never gets old.**

 **Anyway, before we begin, I am now asking for a BETA that is willing to look over this story. If you feel like you can, and handle my own grammar faults than do not hesitate to send me a PM. If anyone is willing to take up this task send me a PM and we'll talk about it.**

 **Also I've been getting some concerns about where this fic is heading. I'm not gonna point out at who or what it's about, but I will say this. I am making this fic how I want to. It will be unorthodox, sometimes unoriginal, or maybe original at other times. I'm not gonna lie, and I'm not gonna stray from a path I'm devoted towards.**

 **Now with all that said, let's get on with it!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

" _You mistake my devotion and adoration for him to be purely whimsical of the role given to me by his mother. For that, you are severely mistaken little brother. It is not because of that, that I have come to adore the boy as much as I do. It is because of who he is to our family, and to me. The spirits have spoken, I have awakened, and the Raven shall once again accompany the Lion Monarch as he descends into the pit of sin once more." **~Raven Branwen**_

 **Jaune Arc: Power Redefined**

 _Volume 1: The Breaking of Limits_

 _Chapter 5: A Clash of Revelations Part 2_

 _He was so dead._

That was Jaune's very first thought once he saw his fellow blond's lilac eyes flash a furious crimson. He knew this very fact when she took a step towards him and the frozen Ruby, and the floor _caved in_. He knew this all encompassing truth made real when her long hair ignited into a mane of golden fire that honestly made something within him stir, and in spite of situation he was in he could only contemplate one thing, a single phrase conjured from his own adolescent hormone driven mind.

 _'Man Spitfires pretty when she's angry.'_

And Jaune knew this universal truth when Yang took a second step towards him, balled her fists up until her knuckles popped and her teeth gained a rather sharp visage.

" _ **DIE!"**_

That single word alone would be enough to have made Jaune take a step back, but in the way she said is what truly affected him. The anger, the fury in her voice alone reminded him of his childhood of when his sisters got angry, or Oum forbid, his _mother_ got angry. The thought alone brought a shiver to his spine, and really when he thought about it compared to his mother's anger, Yangs was...tame.

It was almost a bit cute, even if her eyes told him that she wanted nothing more than to rip him in half.

Still, even with the precarious situation that he found himself in. Jaune's mind was on empty, his body reacted purely on instinct as Yang shot toward him. Arms around Ruby, he jumped up and side-stepped to the right as Yang hit where he once was. Fist hitting the floor which caused it too crack.

"H-hey! I gotta pay for that ya know!" what was he saying? How did that really matter at the moment?

Shouldn't he feel afraid of Yang's temper right now?

Honestly, he didn't. He was more akin to being afraid for her then he was for himself. Truth was, Jaune didn't feel any sort of ill-intent to the girl for beating him at the entrance exam. That's just how things were and he came to accept that. Besides, at the time he was weak, untrained in the finer arts of combat, and the one key factor above all else was that he hadn't unlocked his aura. Now, while the former of the reasons was still very much true as Jaune didn't know any practical form of fighting; he still made up for that with his power.

Which was the crux of the whole issue, while Jaune dodged and weaved around Yang's attacks with little effort. A feast that surprised even him as her attacks, unlike the first time they fought, were not just slow. It was _painfully slow_ to his perceptional awareness. Unlike the first time he fought Yang, he barely had to put any effort at all you avoid her attacks, and that fact alone spooked him even further. All his training had centered around training his body to it's absolute limit and further beyond that. So, how was it his perceptional awareness for speed was so different from a few months ago?

 _'No manner of physical training can make me able to do this. Is it from that time when I nearly died?'_ it was question he begged an answer for because what he was doing right now was simply not normal.

But nevertheless of this theory, Jaune simply didn't want to fight Yang for one very important reason, and it was again, because of his _power._ He knew his power better than anyone else, and he knew how destructive it would be to the human body, but to what extent he didn't know and he'd rather not find out. His control was mediocre at best and was non-existent at the very least. It took every ounce of his control to not accidentally snap little Rubes in his arms like a twig. The sheer thought terrified him and it was for that reason Jaune was content to keep dodging Yang's attacks.

" _HOLD...STILL!"_ the furious blonde shouted at him and Jaune could only sweatdrop at her. Did she think he was stupid?

….

Don't answer that question.

"Um...no? Why would I hold still? I don't wanna get punched!" he said only dance around her fist once again getting an angry snarl from his fellow blonde. In that moment though his eyes scanned his apartment, and what he saw only made his soul shrivel up in terror at what he saw. Yang's rage had, for the lack of the better word, ravaged his entire apartment. The floor was just devastated, the kitchen was a wreck, his bathroom was just _gone_ , and his bedroom looked like a scene straight out from a cheesy murder flick.

Then his eyes caught onto the older man and Jaune just stared at him with a bewildered gaze. Wasn't the old guy supposed to be the adult here? The responsible one and stop this madness?

But no. No, this guy...this guy just stood, watching the whole thing with an amused grin.

 _'Oh I hate you...wait didn't Yang call him Uncle Qrow...but...that would mean!'_

His mind stopped though once he felt a whoosh of wind, and he reacted on instinct alone. Before his mind could process what was happening he kept one arm securely around Ruby as his other flung out, snapping from his body faster than his mind could catch. He blinked as he felt _something_ hit the palm of his hand, and he looked only to see something that both astounded and terrified him.

He had caught Yang's fist from pulverizing his face.

And when he saw her pained expression he felt any form of elation at that feat wither away like a drop of water in the Menagerie desert.

" _...ow..."_ the girl let out a small response, her breath leaving her as the pain from what just happened trickled into her mind as she looked at her hand, and what she, and the others saw made them all grimace.

Thankfully, Ruby didn't see it, but Jaune and Qrow did and judging by the frown on older mans face it would seem the time he had standing on the side lines had gone on long enough. Though for Jaune, a more cynical part of him just wondered what the hell the guy was doing.

But his caring side took hold instead and he quickly let go of her hand and when he did the result was even worse than they initially thought.

It started out small, but the glistening of her eyes only made Jaune feel all the worse, but the damage was done and he winced when he saw her hand. At the moment of impact and when he caught it has caused it to be severely bruised and the swelling of her wrist was just the start. The fingers in her hand were popped out of place and were excruciatingly broken in multiple places. Accidentally catching her fist had caused him to put apply a little bit of pressure to her fist.

Which led to him accidentally crushing her fist into a mess of broken fingers and Oum knows what else, but judging by the swelling in her hand and wrist he probably broke her hand as well.

He looked to Yang and saw her eyes swell up in glistening tears as the pain began to register in her mind. It started out slow, but the floodgates opened when she tried to move her fingers.

Big mistake.

" _AAAAAAHHHHH!"_

He felt Ruby wince against him when she heard Yang's piercing wail of pain, but he didn't let it bother him, or at least as much as he was able. Instead he focused all his attention on her hand. Settling down, he set Ruby to the side, and while ignoring Qrow for the moment he went to Yang and went about doing the only thing he could to try and fix the damage done. She may have attacked him on a misunderstanding, but he didn't care. He still hurt her, and he couldn't bear the sight of a girl crying, especially if he was the one who caused it.

He was raised better than that.

Kneeling at her side, he gently took her hand, and from her flinch he glanced at her to see her teary eyes looking at him with a new found sense of fear that curdled his insides in a way that made him want to bury his head into a hole.

 _Good job Jaune, you make one friend and then you hurt and terrify her big sister, awesome job!_

He ignored those thoughts as he contemplated on what he was about to do. It was all speculation and couldn't even be called a theory, but it was all he had.

When he was with his family before coming to Patch he was put through the most rigorous of training sessions. Not only in the physical sense, but in an academic sense, and while he wasn't a history buff like most of his family, he was still keen on the fundamental's of aura itself. He grew to understand the basic principles of what aura was and how it differed from each individual.

Aura was the power of ones soul, energy given life through ones very essence and given form unto the living world. While Semblance on the other hand was a projection of ones own aura, given life of that persons representative personality in the form of a unique ability special to only them. Those that unlocked their aura were born with differing abilities while some were general for everyone, and like everyone aura also acted a shield or an armor against injuries that would otherwise be fatal to the human or faunus body. It also helped in injuries sustained by gifting a enhanced recovery rate to those that unlocked their aura or had really huge amounts of it.

However, Jaune's was different and the young man knew it. Even without aura he was born with an incredible strong body with an healing factor that wasn't of the norm among faunus, human, or even those of his own family. However, with his aura his healing was more in fact a high-speed regeneration of the cells of the body. It's what saved him multiple times when his body began to break many times during his training. Bones broke and regenerated within the same time frame, the tearing of his muscles and his faunus tissue recovered within the same time they tore.

Which led to Jaune's idea of what he was about to do...

 _'But will it even work? I'm a faunus, and she's a human. Will my aura even affect her, or if it does will it only hurt her?'_ doubts about what he was planning plagued his mind. He'd already made one mistake by hurting her like this, so could he really risk doing so again, and making it even worse?

Yet when he looked at her, and envisioning her from their first fight at Signal he couldn't help, but grimace. The girl he knew at that time was strong, incredibly willful, a hothead, brash, but considerate, and bit of a tease. So to see that same girl now crying her eyes out while on her knees cradling her broken hand in such a manner only seemed to hurt him even more. It was akin to a knife being stabbed into his chest and was twisted to increase the pain.

Yang shouldn't _ever_ be in pain, especially because of him.

 _'No time for doubts Jaune.'_

With his resolve coming back, the young man looked back at her hand and as he blocked all noise from the outside world he channeled his aura into his other hand. White fiery aura blazed to life into the center of palm. The aura soon engulfed the entire form of hand and when it did Jaune, as softly as he was able, laid his hand over her. Then acting upon his will his aura latched onto Yang's own hand. He saw her flinch, but he glanced at her and this time kept his eyes solely on her lilac eyes, the crimson having now bled away as her enraged haze vanished.

"I'm sorry for hurting you, but...I promise. I'm never gonna hurt you again." he said this while their eyes stared at one another. As this occurred neither witnessed the effect Jaune's aura had as it engulfed Yang's hand. Of how it seemed to come to life of it's own and latch onto her hand and seep into her flesh and bone. Mixing and turning with her own bright yellow aura until both auras seemingly mixed perfectly into one cognitive abstracts of yellow and white.

* * *

Yang Xiao Long wasn't a girl that many would consider normal. Having been born into a family of world renowned hunters had changed her from most girls her age. She grew to idolize them, or more specifically her father, step-mother Summer, and her Uncle Qrow. Unlike other girls, Yang was a tomboy who enjoyed a good fight, and would be blunt with you regardless of the situation. She was the kind of person who would teach you how to swim by tossing you into the ocean. She liked to think she was a very confident girl for her age, and would be straight-forward with anything that was in her way.

Yang had a lot of friends, but the most important thing to her was her family. She respected and admired her father, Summer, and her uncle Qrow. She respected their strength and admired them for all they did for her and Ruby with raising them. She loved her little sister Ruby above all else, and was often told that she was a bit overprotective of her, and she wouldn't deny it, not after the mistake she made when they were young. She valued her sister's life and well-being more than most, and if her life was at risk than come both Heaven or Hell, she'd do everything she had to make sure she was safe.

However, beyond all this, Yang was a still a young girl with a dream, an ambition to become a Huntress like the rest of her family. However, deeper than all that, she held a thrill of fighting that bore fruit when her training began with her father. Which was why she became ecstatic when she finally grew of age to enter Signal and start her official training to be a Huntress.

It didn't take long for her to pass the academic examinations, and the practical exam came up. The Combat Evaluation which had been where applicants were pitted against one another in one on one duels while each fight was judged by the Headmaster and the Combat Professors of Signal. That had been the greatest part of the whole thing for her, it would be the time where she could show off her skills in a fight against someone her age.

That is until she was pitted against _him._

 _The tall scraggly blonde haired doofus..._

The young man called Jaune Arc.

She remembered him well, in spite of his poor performance he was still someone she wouldn't forget anytime soon. Though their fight, if it could even be called that, ended with her win. It hadn't been an easy one for her like she at first expected it to be. His movements had been poor, rigid, and rock solid. There was no sense of fluidity or balance to his attacks or technique in his skills.

But every time she attacked him, every time she knocked him down, _he got back up_ as if it was nothing. Their fight had been nothing short of pathetic in nearly every aspect, but one. That was because Jaune simply refused to give up and his body simply refused to stay down. His endurance was scary and his tolerance to pain was even more so. Bruised, broken and bleeding, he still stood up to take her on and what even freaked her out even more was his _eyes_ during their fight.

It was his eyes at the time which terrified her even more. It was like she'd been staring into eyes that showed a form of resolve that had such depth that it threatened to swallow her whole. It freaked her out. It scared her when she looked into his eyes during their fight, and it was only because the professors had enough and personally knocked him out so he wouldn't cause further harm to himself that she won the fight. Otherwise she was afraid she'd have forfeited the match just to get away from those eyes.

That had been the last time she'd seen Jaune, and she guessed he'd been declined entry into Signal due to his performance in the combat evaluation. However, the effects of their battle still left a lingering effect on her that made her skittish and jittery. So much so that she finally had enough and told her father about what she was going through. It had been the right idea, but the answer she received only confused her even more.

" _What you experienced Yang is a rather rare trait among individuals. What you saw was the personified resolve of someone who was willing to give it their all to prove themselves. What you experienced was this tenacity of one whose will was much greater than your own. Some call this tendency to be reckless or in extreme cases suicidal. However, for those that are conscious about this trait they are able to push themselves above and beyond their ordinary limits to achieve even greater heights. In all honesty, it's a good thing the fight was stopped when it did..."_

Taiyang's words had been her answer to her question, but it only serve to confuse her and even annoy her. However, she had pushed it and everything concerning Jaune aside since she figured he'd been rejected by Signal. So surely he would be going back to wherever he came from. That had been her thought, and it hadn't changed for the past few months.

Until everything changed when her baby sister, Ruby Rose, had gone to visit the grave of her mother Summer, and hadn't returned last night.

She had only figured this out when her uncle had been the one to pick her up and relay what was going on. When she found out the girl had become terrified for the safety of her sister and threw aside all caution to the wind just so she could find her. Her father, Qrow, and she had gone to try and find her, but by the time they reached the grave site for Summer there had been no signs of Ruby. All that they did find was the signs of a scuffle and a path of broken tree's and disrupted ground leading out a few miles back to Patch.

They had followed it and by the end of the path it had just turned midnight, but what they had found had scared Yang and disturbed her father and uncle. What they had seen could only be described as a war zone. The ground was completely broken apart with upheavals and ruptures in the earth whilst the woods around the area was completely devastated. Tree's have been completely ripped out of the ground, roots and all, and there was even a giant crater as well!

And seeing as this had been where Ruby trail ended only had the expected effect. Yang had become petrified for her sister's safety at this point. At the time she had been so distraught over the entire situation that she was taken by her father back home while her uncle continued the search.

So, it was only her prayers being answered when the next morning came and she was told by her Uncle that he may have an idea as to where Ruby might be. Her father had already left early the next morning to go and search for Ruby in another part of Patch. As one would expect, Yang had jumped at the chance to finally find her sister, and once she got dressed and ready to go she followed her uncle to where he suspected Ruby was. Yang didn't really ask him how he knew this simply because Qrow was just that good of a Huntsman.

But when he brought her to a rundown apartment on the edge of Patch had made her question her Uncle's suspicions. Surely Ruby wouldn't be in this dump?

However, regardless of her thoughts on the matter she followed Qrow until they reached a door on the third floor and without any warning from her she simply punched the door out of the way. If her baby sister was in here than she was gonna get her, and nothing would get in her way.

Now Yang wasn't expecting much when they entered the apartment, but when they seemingly entered the bedroom part of the apartment they were...surprised to say the least when they found Ruby. Her loving baby dork of sister...

On top of a blond haired, _were those white streaks in his hair?_ , blue eyes young man that Yang was all too familiar with.

It was Jaune Arc...

The moment she saw him Yang felt a moment of cold rushing fear wash down her spine as the memory of their last fight came back to the forefront of her mind. Of those eyes of his staring straight at her, through her and into her very soul. A gaze that threatened to swallow up her meager existence in a turbulent maelstrom that encompassed everything that she knew to be true. She hadn't even registered everything else though when she looked at him and found his eyes once again boring at her. It was for a brief moment, but she had been rooted in place when his eyes fell upon her.

...That is until she saw the bigger picture and the position Jaune was in.

Jaune, the dorky doofus, was on the floor with his arms wrapped around her baby sister Ruby whose tiny hands were latched onto the fabric of his clothing. Gripping and twisting into his hoodie whilst her body was pressed firmly against his own.

…..

Any and all fear yang had for Jaune in that moment was instantly buried and what came next was a white hot surging rage of a furious over-protective big sister. At least that's what Yang felt it was, but in this instance it was something else. What overcame her was almost primal, animalistic even as she uttered out a word with such ferocity that it surprised even her.

" _ **DIE!"**_

After that everything else became a blur. She could only remember charging at Jaune and attacking him in a blind fury. The indignation of the whole matter with him and her baby sister at the forefront of her mind fueled her on to try and catch the blonde and deliver upon him a genocidal slaughtering the likes of which had never been seen. The rest of the world had become unimportant to her at that point. The only thing before her was Jaune and her baby sister in his arms.

At that point she wanted Jaune _dead._

Yet images blurred to her mind that only addled her frustration something fierce as the Arc had proven to be a very elusive and irritating opponent. Something he was _not_ in their last fight as he had pretty much tanked her hits with naught, but his own impressive body and outlasting endurance. However, now he was just avoiding her hits with Ruby still held in his arms.

It frustrated Yang. It angered the hell out of her to be entirely honest. So much so that Yang had finally attacked him when she caught him with his attention on something else. His guard was down and she had taken full advantage of it, and she was fully aiming to remove his head from his shoulders.

…

Only that's not what happened.

Instead of her fist impacting against flesh and bone of Jaune's face as she was expecting. She was instead surprised when Jaune instantly reacted to her attack and with speed too fast for her mind to register. His body became a blur of motion, spinning on his heel with one arm wrapped around Ruby. His other arm lashed out to meet her attack for the first time, but instead of countering he only went up on the defensive by actually stopping her attack. A feat that in itself was surprising as Jaune had essentially caught her fist in his hand, something that even her father refused to try and do without the use of his own aura. The thing is Yang had channeled incredible amounts of aura into that attack so it should have easily crushed Jaune's hand, or at the very least damaged him.

But it didn't.

Her eyes widened at Jaune's move, but then she saw his hand slowly close around her fist. It was only for a bit, but she could literally feel his hand easily crushing the bones in her fingers and hand. She was so shocked by the display of such casual strength that Yang hadn't even registered what happened until it finally hit her.

 _Pain._

Pure white hot agony shot throughout her hand.

Her brain finally caught up with the events that transpired and Yang truly realized the amount of pain she was in the moment she saw the state her hand was in. She let out a whimper as the pain fully began to enter her system as Jaune quickly let go of her hand, but the damage was done. And yet as her eyes looked upon the damage done to her hand, even as she let out a anguished scream from the pain Yang couldn't help, but feel that fear she held for Jaune come back with a vengeance.

She felt her eyes fall upon him and she flinched at his gaze. Those blue eyes bore into her very being and it left her in a state all too familiar of when they first fought. She felt weak, vulnerable, and so very _small._ It wasn't like he wasn't even trying to be intimidating from the way he showed so much concern in his expression, but memories of their first first and now with the injury she just suffered only just amplified that fear.

And through all of this, Yang could only wonder.

 _'How did that scrawny blond haired doofus get so strong?'_

She wondered that while watching him like a hawk as he knelt down to her, finally setting the stricken Ruby to the side as he reached to her injured hand. Of course her body flinched at his action, but he simply locked his gaze with hers and spoke a few words that were just the polar opposite of the terror yang saw him as.

" _I'm sorry for hurting you, but...I promise. I'm never gonna hurt you again."_ his words came out in a strong fervor of expression. Filled with a resolution that was unbreakable, but a tenderness Yang would never have expected from her fellow blonde. Not that she really knew him from beyond their sparring match at the evaluation tests so she really had no idea what kind of person he was.

However, try as she might, when she tried to pull away his gaze stopped her. Those very blue eyes that she was so terrified of, the very eyes that haunted her every waking nightmare were now _glowing_. Her breath hitched as his hand came over hers and with naught, but the command of his own will, Yang bore witness to Jaune utilizing his aura. Ruby, Qrow, and she bore witness to the spectacle before them, and there was only one general consensus of thought between the three.

 _'...what is that?'_

Jaune's hand burst to life with his aura. His hand was wreathed in a fiery white light that seemed to have a mind of it's own. So intense the aura was that it dissipated the shadows. It was so bright that it was almost like staring straight at a miniature star. The aura was so majestic, so beautiful that you just couldn't look away from it.

And as Jaune took hold of Yang's hand and channeled his aura into her hand in hopes that it would heal the damage he'd done. This resulted in his aura going from his hand and seeping into her mangled hand. He kept channeling his aura as this happened, keeping his focus entirely on the task at hand which made him miss the various reactions from the other occupants in the room.

 _What is this sensation?_

That was the very first feeling Yang felt the moment Jaune went about doing whatever it was that he was doing. Her eyes never left him as he went about utilizing his aura, something she'd never seen him do in their evaluation test. However, unlike her studies in aura and the usage of it from other people, the aura she saw from Jaune was just too different to even be accurately called aura.

It was just too thick, almost oppressive even to be in such close proximity of it. Hell, the aura coming off Jaune wasn't even how aura was supposed to appear to others. The usage of aura was always a variant element that depended upon the strength and power of each individual. For those that just awakened their aura or were just a few years into training with it wouldn't allow them to manifest their aura until later on in their respective training. It would only be until these individuals were already Huntsman or Huntresses in training, or even elite trained Huntsmen and Huntresses of their craft would be able to manifest their aura unto the physical world. However, even then the aura would always come off the body in a light sheen of color that represented the soul and personality of the individual.

But Jaune's aura, if it could even be called that, was nothing of the sort from what she learned. His aura came off him in such a manner that it was like his entire body was wreathed in fire of the purest white. It licked off his body into tiny embers and left an overall effect on the area around him. It caused a chill to go down her spine, a tingling numbness throughout her body, an oppressive force that seemed to weigh her down. Just looking at hi9m like that made Yang's fear of him enhance to such a degree that she swore she saw _something_ take form behind the young man. It was an apparition, a shadowy figure taking the form of a humanoid shape, but it's silver/blue piercing eyes looked into her lilac ones and brought forth a surge of power that truly and utterly terrified her.

 _ **Sovereignty**_

And than, at that moment, something within the deepest part of her mind snapped at attention and unleashed a torrent of emotions upon her that left her frozen in place. _  
_

 _Kneel!_

 _Submit!_

 _Prostrate!_

 _Bow!_

Every survival instinct beaten into her by her father and uncle screamed at Yang to simply get on all fours and head on the ground and simply submit to this thing. There was simply no other means of explaining it. What Yang experienced in that moment was as majestic as it was terrifying, and all in equal pandemonium of one another.

...Then Jaune channeled his aura into her hand...

And Yang's world exploded.

… _.._

… _.._

 _Protect._

 _ **Everything else was irrelevant.**_

Every single fear Yang held for Jaune in that moment was instantly erased in a blanket of white fire that filled her very core. His aura seeped into her flesh and mingling with her bright yellow until the two aura's intermingled in a sweet mixture at the center of her very being. Every fault, every guilt, every single notion of negativity Yang felt for externally and internally was put as ease and washed away in the cleansing of this solitary union of their aura's mixing.

Her mouth parted way, but no words could come to describe what she felt at that moment, but her eyes could only widen as did it for everyone as her mangled hand quickly began to heal. Her broke bones, torn tissue and flesh began to mend in such a way that her hand was entirely fixed in just a few seconds.

Yet her body trembled as her eyes tore away from her hand and into Jaune's eyes only to see something to took her breathe away.

Blue and silver mixed into a perfect fusion in Jaune's eyes. His iris glowed a deep silver while the surrounding pupils glowed a light blue; it was akin to the color of the sky itself. However, it wasn't just his eyes that had surprised Yang, but it was just... _him._ As if she was truly seeing Jaune for the first time, and the sight she saw could not be called anything less than otherworldly.

His hair, unlike when they fought months ago, was now a wild mess. Unkempt and left to grow out had caused it to become almost like a lions mane seeing as how it was starting to cover the most of his neckline and shoulders. His facial features had sharpened since the evaluation test, but even back then Jaune was much more defined in muscle than others.

But for Yang, just seeing him, in that _picturesque_ moment would and could only be called something her step-mother Summer would always talk about.

 _Love at first sight._

 _ **OH HELL NO!**_

Yang quickly reigned in that impulse as best she could, but the damage had been done. She had stared at Jaune for too long, and had bore witness to his appearance. He was so much like the dork from their evaluation test, but he was so much more now. Her cheeks flushed a beautiful red hue and the heat from her cheeks quickly spread to the rest of her face making her whole hed resemble the color of a cherry.

If a cherry had moderately long blond hair that is.

 _Damn puberty!_

As this happened though, Jaune was completely focused on the healing of Yang. While on the outside of her hand was fine he still felt a couple of injuries in her hand and wrist. Goging about fixing the rest of it made him completely ignorant and oblivious to the rest of his surroundings.

Thus he missed Ruby watching what he was doing with wide silver eyes. Her mouth agape in sheer amazement at the scene happening before her. She had already bore witness to what he'd done to the Grimm, but now she was seeing it with her own eyes the red reaper couldn't help, but be amazed by what she was seeing. Jaune, a boy she was determined to train her to be as strong as he was, was practically engulfing the room with his aura, and with no conscious thought of his own. She could see the white fiery aura come off his body and saturate the area around them. It was fascinating to the little red reaper. Her silver eyes took it all in, absorbing all she seeing, feeling, and with no conscious thought of her own, her body embraced the feeling.

And at her core, something ancient stirred from the essence coming from Jaune. An aspect of fluidity and danger coiled within the core of Ruby, and with it awakened something within the young huntress hopeful. Her silver eyes, an aspect that came from her loving mother, seemed to glow within themselves. As if they responded in kind to what they were seeing, and reacted accordingly.

Ruby saw it and felt it. Hell, she could practically taste it on her lips. This... _was not aura._ It couldn't even be considered aura anymore. What she saw coming from Jaune was something completely unlike aura, but of something else. Something far too alien to even be considered apart of Remnants current history. And to realize that one solitary truth made the young Rose stop. Not out of shock of realizing this fact. Or of the matter of how she figured it out.

No Ruby Rose, 11 year old Huntress hopeful, stopped because once her mind realized this truth, her body caught up with it.

And her physical shell _reveled_ in that fact.

Which was strange as Ruby never found much interest in anything besides training and her weapon addiction. However, as it was now, her silver eyes, glowing like two miniature stars looked upon Jaune. The guy that saved her. That showed her a level of strength she'd not known before. A young man that was so strong, yet so caring and protective of others. He was everything her mother had told her about Heroes in the stories and fairy tales she was told as a child.

She...wanted that. She desired that above all else. Her dream to be a Huntress, to be one of the very best, and to be strong enough to protect everyone. That was her everything. Her goal in life. To protect everyone just so that she wouldn't lose anyone else ever again.

Not like when she lost her mother.

And for that reason Ruby...she needed him, she needed Jaune...

 _'He has it. He's brave, caring, courageous, and most of all...he's so strong.'_

Jaune had exactly what Ruby needed and wanted. Every aspect of what she'd seen from him reflected exactly what a Hero would be from the legends. And that's exactly what she wanted.

To be a Hero, just like him.

After all, he had saved her life when she was the very edge of losing her own life. Coming like a shooting star that dropped from the very heavens. Crashing before her and standing before the Grimm that threatened her existence. His handling of them so similar the legends of the Demigod Herakles and his battle with the Hydra, or of Thesus and his battle with the Minotaur. He fought and broke those Grimm in such a manner that Jaune couldn't nor would ever be considered human.

But Ruby didn't care because when the dust settled and the Grimm were dead at Jaune's feet, Ruby didn't see something that was even more dangerous then Grimm.

She saw her teacher, her master, her savior, her _hero_.

 _'Yeah.'_ Ruby smiled at the thought as her eyes looked upon Jaune healing her sister. _'He is my hero, isn't he mom?'_

Her body tingled at that, in a strange mix of delight, numbness of her skin, and a cold chill going up her spine that gave her goosebumps. Ruby couldn't even hope to explain what she was feeling, but she knew this for certain. Seeing Jaune and the use of his aura for the first time shined a new light on him for Ruby. He was more than just an incredibly strong guy, but he was now an _awesome_ incredibly strong guy!

….

….

 _THERE WAS DIFFERENCE!_

However as this all happened, there was one other occupant that was having very different thoughts than the two girls.

Qrow Branwen watched what was happening with a look of mixed concern, apprehension, and curiosity. Having been trained by the best at Beacon Academy, and have been sworn in under the leadership of Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon itself, had left to Qrow become much more knowledgeable than most people about the inner workings of the world they lived in. He was a master in the art of combat, and the practitioner of aura, and a firm believer in the very legends that riddle Remnant.

Because of this, ever since graduating from Beacon many years ago, Qrow was unveiled to the truths of the world around him. About things that many or most called just legends or fairy tales to tell young children at night. Stories about heroic warriors of myth leading the charge into war, and bringing both honor and glory to their family name, or clan. Qrow knew many of these legends and myths thanks to Ozpin, but one such tale he was all too familiar with was one his own Clan harbored since before the dawn of mankind.

Qrow's face hardened as memories came flooding in as he watched what was happening. Memories he'd tried desperately to bury, but they just kept coming back. Memories of the last fleeting moments he and Raven had with their father on his deathbed. The last moment they would ever hear of him before being shipped off to Beacon to become Huntsmen. It was a tale he spun, a story of tradition passed down from Chieftain to his or her children. A torch passed down from one to the other and a burden that weighed heavily upon the shoulders of the successors.

 _ **The Legend of the Four Sacred Beasts**_

" _The Epic of the Faunus, of a shamanistic and druid tribal era of where darkness loomed over the world in the greatest personification of Sin and Evil. Of how the first Faunus came to being in the four great beasts, and how they led to the salvation of not only faunus kind, but the protection of the planet itself. Each Beast was a praised as Gods, Lords, of all powerful entities with powers that far seceded from the realm of what was possible. It was said that individually they were so strong that their power would resonate from the ends of Remnant. The four of them were everything, they were siblings, they were the closest of friends, comrades, protectors of the realm._

 _Of the four, the first 3 was named as such throughout the Legend fopr what they represented, lorded over, and inherently granted among the Faunus._

 _Kaguya, The Moon Rabbit Goddess, The Giver of Life._

 _Sun Wukong, The Monkey King, and the Great Sage of the Heavens._

 _Bagheera, The Black Panther, Lord of the Prowl and Master of the Shadows._

 _Each one was given the title that they were given for their deeds in the story, but for the last one there was a plethora of titles he went by. He was the oldest of the sibling, the elder brother of the siblings, their leader, and Lord Protector over the entire Realm._

 _They called him The White Lion, The God of War, The Unbreakable Shield, The Lord of the Elements, Master of Light and Healing, but for those that knew of his legend they knew him by his one true moniker._

 _He was Maahes, King of the Faunus, the Almighty Sovereign._

 _I'm telling you all this, Raven, Qrow, my children, so that you can bare the responsibility we've upheld for centuries. Just as our Lord Maahes carried on his shoulders our ancestors so too shall you both if he were to ever arise again. Just like our ancestors Huginn and Muninn themselves, you two shall be the ones to bare the responsibility of being Maahes "eyes" over the world. Do not forget this responsibility and never forsake it; for if you ever do you will forsake our blood and tradition that's tied us together for centuries."_

Qrow's expression hardened at the memory of his father and the words he spoke to him and his sister on his death bed. Standing there and seeing Jaune enact the very power of Maahes, the very entity of whom his tribe worshiped brought forth memories that he'd rather forget, but his blood simply would not allow it. Raven had always told him that tradition and blood ran thick in the Branwen tribe, and he always thought she meant that as a saying to fortify the ties of the tribe.

But now, as he stood there, he knew better as he watched Jaune, his _Godson,_ heal the mangled hand of his niece. It was a twisted piece of irony to him, that he would only be reminded of his responsibility when someone close to him was hurt, only to be healed by the one thing he had tried to forget the most.

The carrier that represented both his forsaken responsibility and duty as Godfather.

 _'How unlucky of me, eh?'_ he thought cynically before he took a deep breath and reopened his eyes and senses to the world. For a moment, his red eyes sharpened and ears perked before he glanced to the side to look out the window of the ruined apartment room to see something that only made him smile with a grim realization.

It was a pitch black raven perched on top of a solitary branch from a tree that overlooked the apartment complex. It's blood red eyes stared right at him with all the twisted amusement that Qrow knew could only come from one person.

And it was then, Qrow understood.

 _'Now I understand what you meant that day Raven...'_ the younger twin thought as he remember the night he and Raven had gone and saved Jaune from his near suicidal attempt to get stronger. The words they spoke with the unconscious boy laid out in her lap had all been very circumstantial to what had happened, but his questions pertaining to her interest in the boy had confused him.

But now he knew the truth. Now he knew why Raven was so infatuated with Joan's boy.

It was just as Raven told him on that night.

" _You mistake my devotion and adoration for him to be purely whimsical of the role given to me by his mother. For that, you are severely mistaken little brother. It is not because of that, that I have come to adore the boy as much as I do. It is because of who he is to our family, and to me. The spirits have spoken, I have awakened, and the Raven shall once again accompany the Lion Monarch as he descends into the pit of sin once more."_

Qrow understood now, but he didn't share the same fascination as his crazy twisted sister. No, he was more cautious than anything, but blood demanded it of him and loyalty to Joan had bounded him to help Jaune. He couldn't share this, any of this, to Ozpin or their organization, and especially to that war dog James.

No, all of this, as far as Qrow was concerned, was to be kept strictly off the record.

Finally, the man tore his gaze away from the Raven, and looked at the situation, and with all the casual swagger and responsibility of an adult his age he put his foot down, his canteen in hand and his lips curling into his usual cocky smirk.

"Sooooo...you girls gonna keep making googly eyes at your boyfriend, or you lot gonna come with me to the house? Remember? Taiyang? Worried to death father and all?" he mentioned, and his words did the trick; well for the most part.

Yang's hand, fully recovered at this point, froze on the spot and Ruby blinked, the glow in her eyes fading whilst Jaune's aura instantly seeped back into his body. The two teens faces colored a nice hue of red at Qrow's words, but poor little naive Ruby completely misread Qorw's words and simply spoke words that would spell her doom of embarrassment much later on down the road.

Her silver eyes rolled as she walked up to Jaune and threw her arms around his neck while her legs wrapped around his waist. Doing so she ignored the gobsmacked expression from her sister and shocked one from Jaune as she stared at her uncle, as if daring him to speak otherwise. "Well...duh Uncle Qrow, Jaune's my friend and he's a boy, so yeah he's my boyfriend, what's wrong with spending time with him?" she said before sticking her tongue at him with all the grace an 11 year old should have.

….

….

….

"...Why do I have the sudden urge to run...far...far... _far_ away?" Jaune said as Ruby went to wrapping her arms around his neck and laying her head atop his. Though he did not miss the look Yang shot to him and then to Ruby.

Did her eyes turn red again in that moment?

…. _Nah_

Qrow on the other simply crossed his arms and his smirk grew. "Kid, you could have all the strength in the world, but if there is one rule in this universe, it's that a father's wrath is _never_ to be crossed, especially when it comes to his daughters. And let me tell ya..." here his smirk turned into a grin, and it made Jaune swallow nervously.

Qrow's grin was all teeth.

And did his red eyes just glow _murderously?_

"You've gone and kicked the hornets nest, get ready to meet Taiyang, Yang and Ruby's _dad_."

…..

Now normally, any other young man in the prime of his teenage years would be quivering in their boots at the mere thought of meeting the father of two girls that he had a somewhat strange yet close relation with. They'd be nervous, petrified, terrified even. Any normal young man would be sweating bullets and trying to think up of an excuse to try and get out of the situation.

However, for Jaune, he was no normal young man. He couldn't simply run away because he had admittedly taken Ruby after saving her from the Grimm. Kept her away from her family for the whole night. Leaving them to be worried sick for her safety, and thus he had to take responsibility and face the consequences of his actions, whatever that may be.

Yet there was more to it than that, Jaune's upbringing was rather... _unique._ He was raised around such strong, powerful, and naturally talented sisters and an even more terrifyingly powerful mother that Jaune's perception of women far outweighed the valued perception of the threat any man could inflict upon his person. The only one who ever pushed Jaune to the brink was his father Micheal, and even then his former father could never invoke the same amount of terror in his younger days as his mother would.

Hey! You would be saying the same thing if you saw your mother rip a mountain asunder and gouge the very ocean, and that was when was _sparring!  
_

So, in all honesty, Jaune felt his worry decrease, if only slightly, but only because his fear of Ruby and Yang's did couldn't really be compared to the terror that was his mother. Besides, their dad should understand once everything was explained to him, right? Every understanding father should bear that in mind.

Right?

 _Right?_

….

 _ **Right.**_

 _'Now that I think about it...I wonder how the families doing...'_ Jaune thought with a small frown as he quietly followed Qrow and Yang while Ruby dutifully hung from his body. Simply content with her position which would make for the odd sight to see on their trip back to her home.

* * *

A harbor, a docking area for any and all forms of travel by both sea and air was usually a rather mundane sort of piece modern architecture. At least from the point of view from those that lived on the mainland and never truly understood the worth the habor's had for much smaller continents and island nations that relied upon them for their valuable resource for trade and marketing professions.

The harbor was the main source of income of resources shipped too and from other sources that tied each island nation together as one community based on trade and value of resources. For example, Menagerie was known for it's supple and vast swath of fruits from the more tropical parts of their island nation. Which made trading with them a very valuable source of income of resource for the other island nations. Even when the Council and Kingdom officials somewhat frowned upon such actions didn't really deter the island nations from trading with them.

And it was for that reason Patch, which was known for it's cast resource for aquatic food and naturally grown coconuts and banana's made them another great source of trade value. Thus, their harbor, their main harbor of 10 that surrounded their humble little island was the prime source of the island's income of both food, water and other resources.

The inhabitants of Patch took pride in their habor's, and for those that labored day and day out to keep up the maintenance and security of the vast docking area were the ones who kept it in tip-top shape. It was these people that took pride in their work, and it was also this job that allowed them to see things most people wouldn't really see on any other day.

For example, you see a ship come into dock, nothing special about that at all as dozens of ships came in from the other island nations, and even some from the Kingdoms. However, there was one person that came off this ship that truly change that perspective really quickly.

It was a woman, but not the kind of woman the locals would come to expect. For one she was a faunus, but like any other faunus they'd seen. The way she walked, the way she moved was as balanced as a gazelle, but as flexible as a cheetah. Her body was coiled, muscles tense, but steady. Her long golden tresses fell down her back in a the liking of a lions mane. Her sharp blue eyes were intense, instinct driven and goned to the senses of a top tier predator ready to jump upon it's prey.

She was wore a strange mix of silver chain-mail and leather that covered most of her body. Her boots clacked against the docking area and her lions tail twitched and swerved to life, as if it had a mind of it's own.

The woman's eyes took in her surroundings within a few seconds, and then her tail ceased it's erratic movements before finally calming down. Unconsciously wrapping the tail around her waist, the woman went to her breast pocket and pulled out a strange device, it was a crystallized orb of sorts that had a sphere inside that was seemingly pointing her in a singular direction.

"He's close now..." the woman muttered to herself before she looked off in the direction of where the device was pointing her too. Her eyes narrowed, but the tightening of her chest was the only sign of her distress with what she was feeling at the moment.

She had made it, a weeks travel by boat, but she had finally made it to Patch.

And now, Joan Arc, was ready to find her son and take him back home.

 _Where he belonged._

 _Among his kin._

 _Surrounded by those of his own blood._

But, an even deeper part of her mind, one Joan tried to suppress made itself known.

 _And to get him ready for his ascension..._

Scowling at the thought, Joan shook her head and took off, ignoring the stares she received from those of the harbor.

But in the process she missed one single Grimm like bird with a multiple set of red/yellow eyes watching her go before it's body began to warp and twist, so that it could return back to it's master.

 _ **Schink!**_

Only for a quick and precise slice cut off it's transportation process. A sword of the darkest blood red color cut cleanly through it's body and spatial warping ability. Relieving of it's head from the rest of it's body, and just as the rest of the body of the Grimm began to burst into a smoky black ash the head began to do so as well.

However, Raven, baring the mask of a winged avian like Grimm caught the head of the Grimm and stared right into it's eyes. Knowing without a doubt that everything it saw, so too would _she_ see as well.

And a wicked smirk curled underneath Raven's mask.

" _Nice try, Salem, but you're gonna have to try harder than that if you want **my** master."_

Then without a second thought she crushed the rest of the hand between her fingers and scattered the blacken ash to the four winds. Doing so, she looked back to the rest of Patch before her eyes caught onto the presence of her old friend Joan. Her smirking growing a bit wider, she morphed into her raven form and took flight.

...It was time Joan and her had a talk about the woman's precious son.

 _And the growth of her master._

* * *

 **Done. This chapter is over with. If you liked it leave a review along with any questions you may have.**

 **I'll work on the next chapter when time allows so until then.**

 **Ja'ne!**


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